He Needs Help
by aesthetic.clouds
Summary: Damon gets kidnapped by his doppelgänger. He tortures him and leaves him trapped in a forest alone. Complications arise when Stefan and everyone comes to save him, but Damon isn't the same. Now, they all have to band together to help Damon. Will they get the witty and sarcastic Damon back, Or will he forever be stuck in his own mind? *takes place after season 6* *first fanfic ever*
1. Chapter 1

**A/U- I'm sorry if the characters seem out of character, OOC. This is my first FanFiction, and I'm a HUGE TVD fan! I had this idea ever since I started watching Vampire Diaries, and I have decided to just finally release the ideas and make it into a chapter. I hope you like this!** **  
** **Disclaimer- Nope, I sadly do not own TVD and if I did I would not be writing a fanfic about them, I would simply make it into reality, and maybe also go and fangirl about Ian Sexyhalder lol.**

 **Chapter One- Blue**

The glass clinks against each other as the dark amber liquid is pouring out. The Bourbon has been more than 60 years old. His icy blue eyes reflect the crackling fire in the living room.

Damon Salvatore stands still, sipping his drink as he contemplates his future without Elena Gilbert. When he's not counting the days until Bonnie's impending death, he's thinking of the too-good-to-be-true, Elena. The memory haunts him everywhere he goes. Every day he would mourn the loss of Elena. He misses her annoying little laugh whenever Damon would say something sarcastic, and how when she cries a little vein would pop out on her forehead. He misses the long dark brown hair, and her plain- but gorgeous eyes.

The most effective and guaranteed answer to get Elena back was actualy quite simple, kill Bonnie Bennett, and voila, Elena wakes up and everything would be good in the world. Although Damon was not ready to have to go through the crap of him explaining to Elena what happened to Bonnie. And even so, Bonnie is more useful when she's alive, and she is getting pretty close to Damon's good side. He quickly brushes off the idea of Bonnie dead... For his sake, and Elena's.

He swirls the cup as he sets it down on the almost broken, wooden coffee table. He turns around and goes to walk upstairs when the door opens, revealing Stefan. Damon glares at him and walks past him to go upstairs to his room.

They got into a huge fight together with Stefan a little less than a day ago. Stefan was talking to Damon about how Damon was going to break soon. Damon, with his rising dignity, told him to leave him alone. The superhero Stefan, as usual, kept on insisting at Damon to get him to just admit it. Things got bad, furniture was broken, and a brother stormed out of the Salvatore boarding house.

His anger returns just by looking at Stefan- no- more like being in the same house with him would bring back his fuming anger. The only thing keeping him sane is the thought that Elena is going to be back in his arms soon- 60-70 years soon.

"Damon- look. I'm sorry okay." Stefan admits. After an awkward moment of silence, Stefan finally speaks up again. "I'm going to go and sleep somewhere else tonight, I'll be back tomorrow." and with that, he leaves.

Damon rolls his eyes at Stefan's little "apology". He always has to be the hero, always the one who has to make sacrifices, the one who gets to make the ultimate decision, everyone's friend, the one who everyone feels bad for... Damon lost just about everyone, except for Alaric, of course. They are still tight drinking buddies, but Damon has been pushing Alaric away from him, shutting him out. But other than Alaric, he has really no one. Stefan and he are on the outs, Elena is in a coma, Bonnie is trying to steer away from Damon, Jeremy left to god knows where, Tyler and Matt are definitely not a choice in Damon's handbook on who to be friends with, and CareBear is too judgy.

 _Where is Stefan even going to stay? The little place he has where behind a shelf of books is liquor storage and a wall with all his victim's names on it? What a depressed little place he has, although, it does fit his brooding personality._

He goes into his bathroom and takes a quick shower before climbing onto his comfy bed. It takes him no less than 5 minutes to fall asleep. And once he was asleep, boy, did he wish he were awake. Flashbacks of Elena and him start hitting him like bombs. He was having a nightmare. Reliving the wedding day, watching Elena die more times than he could count, feeling helpless as he stood there watching her die. The nightmares came before he and his brother stopped talking to each other, but he's never mentioned it to him, trying to keep his pride and all. He could feel the sweat beads forming on his forehead. All of a sudden, he hears his door open.

* * *

His first thought is that it's Stefan. He tries to wake up, but he can't. It's like as if someone- or something is forcing him to stay in his sleep. He struggles on his bed, trying to move, but it's paralyzing him. Damon feels a rush of fear striking him. This hasn't happened ever since the wedding day. The time he forced his bleeding wrist into Elena's mouth trying to wake her up, or when he carried Elena to the hospital.

He's moaning and grunting, but nothing comes out. And then it stops. He opens his scared blue eyes with sweat dripping down his face. He looks around in hopes of seeing someone. A black figure stands next to his bed. He scrambles out of bed and vampire speeds to the other side. The figure runs over to Damon. It pushes him on the wall behind him. Damon musters up his strength and shoves the shadowy figure as hard as he can, but the figure barely moves. He can tell he or she was grinning at him. Damon takes his chance and swings at his face, but the figure dodges it and throws him across the room. The whole room shakes from the impact.

"STEF-" Damon tries to scream for Stefan, but the figure covers his mouth, and stabs Damon in the neck with a large needle. It was vervain and a little bit of werewolf toxin. All of a sudden, his vision turns blurry, and he comes crashing down onto the hardwood floor. He makes one last effort to look for whoever it was. He manages to get a glimpse of the person before he gets knocked out. The moonlight provides him a source of light from the window he was under when he fell. His eyes grow large at what he sees.

This person has light blue eyes and jet-black hair.

* * *

 **Okay, so that was it for chapter one! I really hope you guys liked it. And please review! Constructive criticism is appreciated! Thanks for reading, and I will update as fast as my fingers can type the next chapter! Oh and before I go, I'm going to try and make every chapter more than 1,000 characters, but don't count me to it, because I get lazy, haha. Okay bye!** **  
** **-Angela**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N- Thanks TXKat for reviewing, and for the helpful tip! I hope that this chapter would be easier to read. This chapter isn't my best and it might be a snooze fest. I just had to incorporate Stefan's POV to get their storyline moving.I'm going to try and post every day, but I can't guarantee it! The characters are probably going to be super OOC in this.  
Disclaimer- I don't own Vampire Diaries, although I wish I did.**

 **Chapter 2- Fault**

 ** _2 weeks later_**

It's been 2 weeks since Damon has disappeared. Stefan's wrinkles his forehead in confusion to where the missing brother could be because he hasn't seen him for weeks. Stefan's with Caroline together at the Grill.

"I haven't seen Damon messing up this town lately. Is everything okay with him?" Caroline asks. Her bright eyes smile at Stefan. Stefan knows that she was just joking, but something inside of him tells him that he shouldn't be taking it as a joke. If no one saw him then something was clearly wrong.

"I'm not sure. I haven't seen him at all." Stefan replies wondering where he might've gone.

"Oh, well I'm sure he's going to turn up any day now. He probably just left town." Caroline says, assuring Stefan.

"Why would he leave town? That's not a Damon-like move."

"I mean like- Elena's gone. I would have left if it weren't for you staying here with me and coping." Caroline was smiling.

Her affection for him grows more and more each day. Stefan can tell her feelings for him have grown since the wedding day. She brushes her hand against Stefan's, letting him know that it was going to be okay.

He sits there pondering over what Caroline said. _I would have left if it weren't for you staying here with me and coping..._ His mind keeps on replaying the same sentence over and over again.

"I wasn't there for him. He obviously wouldn't admit that he needs help. I was insisting." He pauses to think. "Except, Damon wouldn't skip town, he would've at least told someone… Have you talked to Alaric?"

"Yeah I just spoke with him on the phone before I met up with you."

"Call him and ask him if he has seen or spoke with Damon for these past few weeks."

Caroline snatches her phone out from her leather purse that was hanging on her chair. She calls Alaric.

"Hey Caroline."

"Hey Alaric! I was wondering, have you spoken with Damon for these couple weeks?"

"No, I haven't. Why? What happened to him?" Alaric was getting anxious

"Well, Stefan and I haven't seen him for a long time and we thought that you might have seen him around or something."

"Well, I didn't. He's been avoiding me and I don't know why."

"Come to the Grill, we'll talk there."

"Okay. I'm right around the corner. I'll be there."

Ric hangs up the phone and runs to the Grill.

* * *

"What are doing?" Alaric asks, breathless. He glances between Stefan and Caroline, as no one is answering his question. Alaric hops onto a dark brown bar stool next to Caroline.

"Call Bonnie and ask her to do a locator spell." Stefan declares, interrupting the silence that fell upon them.

Caroline quickly types in Bonnie's number. Ric leans in, trying to hear the conversation, while Stefan leans back using his vamp hearing to hear the conversation. Perks of being a vampire.

"Hey Bonnie, Damon's missing, can you do a little favor for us and do a locator spell on him?"

"Damon? What happened?" Bonnie and Damon grew a lot closer ever since they got trapped in the prison world together. Everyone can hear the strain in Bonnie's voice, it's pretty obvious that she's worried about him.

"I'll explain to you later, but right now I need you to meet us at Stefan's."

"Yeah sure, I'll be there in five."

Caroline hangs up the phone, and breathed a sigh of relief. She was afraid that Bonnie would say no. She knows that they got closer, but when Bonnie came back they had an argument, which ended with Damon apologizing.

"She's on the way to your house right now." Caroline speaks, looking at Stefan. Stefan looks exhausted. His forehead is wrinkled, and his eyes are looking down at the glass of Bourbon, immediately reminding him of Damon.

"How could I have not noticed? He's my brother, I should've noticed that he wasn't around the house and no one has talked to him. What if he was hurt? It would be all my fault."

"Stefan, don't blame it all on yourself, I guess it was sort of all of our fault." Alaric quietly speaks; embarrassed that he didn't notice his best friend missing. He feels like he was betraying Damon. He misses his annoying yet witty remarks, and the smirk he would always do. Silence falls upon the group of friends gathering at the Grill.

"We better get going if we're going to meet up with Bonnie," Caroline says, a hint of happiness in her voice, trying to lift up the spirit. Stefan nods at Caroline, and finishes his Bourbon in one gulp, and slams the glass cup down on the wooden bar. They all shuffle towards the door, and drives to the Salvatore Boarding House.

* * *

They meet Bonnie at the front, and opens the front door to go inside. Before they do the spell, Stefan goes and pours himself a glass of Bourbon.

"Pour me a glass too, Stefan" Alaric speaks amidst all the ruckus going on in the house.

"Okay," Stefan says while pouring another glass for Alaric, "but you better not get drunk on me." And hands the drink to Alaric.

"Thanks." Alaric murmurs to Stefan smiling.

Caroline goes around the house collecting candles, and Bonnie grabs a map and hands Stefan a knife. They set down all the required things, and Stefan cuts his hands open, blood oozing out of his palm, and squeezes it onto the middle of the map. Bonnie chants in a Latin sounding language. The Salvatore's blood runs off the map, hinting that he's not on the map. Bonnie opens her eyes and stops chanting. Everyone looks at Bonnie with their mouth gaped wide open.

"What does this mean?" Caroline screams out, scared.

"He's not here…" Bonnie spoke, disbelief in her voice. Everyone starts panicking.

"What? Well, maybe he's not on _this_ map... This map only shows the United States! He could be in Canada, or London, or... or..." Caroline quickly speaks, her brain scrambling around trying to think of a place Damon could've run off to. Caroline and everyone finds themselves silent once again.

"Is he dea-" Alaric says.

"My brother is not _dead_. He wouldn't do this to himself," Stefan pauses.

"at least-"

"Unless, _somebody_ did it to him." Caroline says interrupting Stefan. Slowly, all eyes turned to her. Fuming with anger, Stefan throws his- now empty- glass cup to the wall, creating a huge explosion of glass exploding off of the wall. _It's what Damon would've done,_ Stefan thought.

* * *

 **Please review, it helps me a lot with my writing. I have a storyline somewhat set, and I have written all the way to chapter 13. I'll try to post every day, but it probably won't happen haha. Even though I did write all the way to 13, they're all really rough drafts and I have to go through a lot of time editing it and changing some things. Anyways, enough of my chit-chat... Please review with any story ideas, constructive criticism, etc. It helps a lot, and I really like reading them!  
-Angela**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N- so this story will have some original characters that I randomly made up. I'm just telling you guys so if you don't like reading stories with original characters then you can have a heads up and decide whether or not you want to continue :) and yeah the characters are probably going to be OOC, especially Damon because I can not- for my life- portray the sarcastic witty vampire.  
Disclaimer- nope, three chapters in and I still don't own TVD, but I'm devastated that they're ending after season 8! There's only going to be 16 episodes in season 8! That's only about 3-4 months of TVD! What am I going to do for the rest of the year?**

 **Chapter 3- Vaughn**

Damon wearily opens his eyes. His vision is blurry, and his head's pounding. It feels like as if someone is continuously hitting his head with a hammer. He looks around and sees that he's chained down. The chains restrict him from standing up, so the only thing he can do is to sit on the cold, hard floor. His butt is feeling a little sore. He's sitting in the corner of a room. The gray room is bare, and it seems like it was closing in on him. His throat is dry, and his voice weak. He feels like his body is breaking down. He can feel his organs shutting down. _Did he put werewolf toxin in me? If he did, I'm dead for sure_. All of a sudden, the heavy iron door creaks open.

"Who are you?" Damon manages to pry out of his dry throat. The guy smirks- an all too familiar smirk. He looks exactly like Damon, but it wasn't him.

"Hello, Mini Me. I've been waiting for a long time to see you in person." He speaks out.

Damon is at a loss for words. Mini-me? He walks closer to Damon. Damon's eyes are still blurry, and his brain is scattered all over the place. He finally stables his eyes over on his doppelgänger. They look so much alike it's unbelievable.

"I'm your doppelgänger?" Damon cries out in disbelief.

"Don't be so surprised. You knew this was going to happen. Silas and Stefan, Katherine and Elena. There was bound to be you and me." He smiles evilly.

Damon is in a state of shock.

Elena… He remembers her face; he remembers how they put her casket in a room, and Bonnie cloaking it. He remembers trying to toughen himself up, but ultimately breaking down. Damon looks at him. He is identical, almost like as if he is looking in a mirror. He has the same evil smile and the same icy eyes. Their hair color is a little different. You wouldn't notice anything different between them unless you really look at the two side by side. Damon has jet black, while he has a brown and black mix. Also, Damon has somewhat straight hair but his was a little wavier. He grins at Damon, it seems as if he enjoys torturing people. The smile brings chills to Damon. He can tell that to his doppelgänger, the thought of torturing someone would make him go mad, the blood in his veins stir. Damon is weak, even the slightest touch would make him wince in pain. He can feel his blood burning up, boiling, and cooking in his veins.

"I knew there was going to be another one of me running around, I just didn't know they were going to kidnap me and chain me up in such a bland room." He holds his hands up with the chains clattering against them. "I guess you didn't get my taste because this decor is definitely something Stefan-like." Damon smiles to himself, his wittiness is the only thing he has. Damon mentally makes a disgusting face at the word Stefan. He forgot that they were still arguing with each other. His throat's burning from that long sentence, but it's worth it.

"What's your name?" Damon croaks out.

"You can call me Vaughn." He replies with a smirk on his face.

"Vaughn? Were you born around Mozart's period?" Damon snickers. Vaughn stands there glaring at Damon.

"I can assure you, Damon, that I am much older than you, therefore faster," Vaughn vamp speeds in front of Damon, "stronger," he grabs Damon's neck, squeezing it, "and much, much wiser." He gives Damon's neck one last tight squeeze before he releases his neck. But not before he slams Damon's head against the wall, making him wince and groan out in pain. All of a sudden, Damon scrunches together, holding his stomach, and he can feel his heart racing as if it was going to jump out any second. Damon finds himself screaming out in a raspy voice.

"Oh hey, the werewolf toxin is working. With this in your system, you're going to be dead in about two or three days. After that, you will finally stop being a burden on Stefan and everyone else. I'm pretty sure Elena was just prancing with joy finally being let out of your life. In fact, everyone would be very happy once they find out you're dead." Vaughn smiles at him, chuckling out a hearty laugh.

"What's your point of this? If you wanted to see me, you could've just knocked." Damon asks him, getting a huge headache.

"I want you to suffer, to feel the pain I went through. You being my doppelgänger has created a lot of difficulties for me. The ancestors have wanted you for the longest time. You prancing out there making a mess has caused the ancestors mad. They need you dead to be peaceful again, and they've been toying with me to catch you. Every time I go outside, it felt like as if the air was filled with vervain. Hell, even sleeping was hard. But now that I got you, you are never getting out. I am going to break you until you are nothing. Until you are just a waste of space, until you plead for me to finish you. You are an abomination, and I hate myself every day for looking like you. I will make everyone you love turn against you. Mark my words, Damon Salvatore." He kicks Damon in the stomach, making Damon double back in pain. Damon's pale blue eyes look at Vaughn, pleading for him to stop. Vaughn goes and grabs a stake, and dips it in vervain.

"You don't have to do that..." Damon cries out. His eyes are wide with fear. He starts coughing, and blood pours out of his mouth and onto the concrete floor, giving it a red pop of color. Vaughn goes to Damon, eyeing his stomach. He holds Damon's chin in his hands, and jerks his head upwards, forcing Damon to look at him.

"Damon, Damon, Damon." Vaughn slowly pushes the vervain-filled stake in his torso. "Of course I don't have to, but I _want_ to." And pushes it heavily into his stomach. Damon groans and starts to breathe heavily.

"Do you feel the burning feeling in your stomach? The vervain seeping into your body feels painful huh?" Vaughn smiles creepily. He leaves the stake protruding out of his torso and grabs a pale white cup. Damon was about to faint. He wants to die; he doesn't want to go through the pain of vervain anymore. He was almost just about done. He sees Vaughn holding a cup, and walks towards him. His heartbeat immediately races up. He finds himself pushing himself into the corner, trying to escape whatever was coming at him. Vaughn goes up to his face, and holds his head still, and shoves the fluid inside his mouth. His mouth area is immediately turning red upon the contact of vervain. He can feel his tongue swelling up, and his mouth burning up like chewing razors in his mouth. Blood is pouring out of his mouth and so he immediately spits it out onto the floor. He throws the plastic cup across the room making a huge clattering noise that echoed in the tight room.

"Goodnight, Damon. Hope you sleep well." Vaughn says, walking out of the room and shutting the large heavy iron door creating a noise that sounds all too well like the time he was in the Augustine.

The sound echoes in Damon's mind. Black flashes appear and he falls into the black pit of darkness.

* * *

 **Okay, I'm done with this chapter! I really failed at coming up with Damon's witty comebacks haha. It was really a struggle to think of. I'm just not a person who can come up with comebacks on the spot, which makes me really suck at portraying Damon in this story. Hopefully, I will get better with practice, but I most likely won't... :P Please review with any tips to make my story better. Reviewing makes me super happy, and inspired to write more. I really hope you liked this chapter, and thanks for reading! It really means a lot to me!  
-angelaapann**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N- Just to clear up any confusion, the beginning of the chapter starts off at the** **first** **week of Damon kidnapped, and then once you get to the horizontal line, it's going to say 3 weeks later, which brings Damon to present time, and so from there on, he has been held captive for 3 weeks. Sorry for not updating yesterday, I was really busy yesterday, and I couldn't think of any ideas to make the story long enough. My creative juices are kind of getting bland right now, so I will do my very best to write another chapter for tomorrow. Anyways, I hope you like this chapter!  
Thank you so much maayan21051 for reviewing! It means a lot!  
**

 **Chapter 4- Hallucinating**

Damon's eyes blur around the room. His head is pounding, and his ribs are sore. The stab wounds are taking its sweet, sweet time healing- and at this rate, it's surprising that it even is healing. Damon is bleeding out from the still-open stab wound. His torso is aching in particular, and he can feel the werewolf venom crawling towards his heart. His body feels cold but he's sweating all over. He's lying down, unable to move. Every joint he moves results in Damon screaming out in pain.

He isn't craving blood. _That must mean that my body is shutting down. This is bad, right? Maybe Stefan will find me. Who am I kidding? Stefan probably still hasn't figured out yet that I'm missing, stupid, stupid, Stefan. If he did, I would most definitely be sitting in my chair drinking Bourbon. Oh, how Bourbon right now would be perfect._

He breaks out from his thoughts to the see world spinning. The room was getting whirly. He gets a terrible aching pain in his chest. He clutches his chest, wanting to rip out his heart. His forehead starts sweating, and his hands start to shake. He trembles on the floor. His brain is exploding in his head. He just wants it to end. Damon groans out and slurs out words. His heart is racing faster, and his organs feel like it's going to burst out of his body. His mouth starts filling with blood, and his nose dripping blood. He opens his eyes.

"Elena? I missed you. What are you doing here? You're not supposed to be here, get out before he sees you." Damon says with sincerity. Elena just laughs at him.

"You failed, Damon. You are a failure. You wouldn't have gotten stuck in this mess. If only you would have been more kind and forgiving of Stefan, then you might not be stuck here. You are so stupid, what did I ever see in you?" Elena says, spitting out the hateful words one by one, and each one taking a stab at Damon's heart.

"Elena, I'm sorry. Please, Elena. Don't leave me. I _need_ you." Damon says, his eyes pleading at Elena for her to help. One looks at Damon's eyes, and you can see all the pain and the brutality he has suffered. Elena sees Damon's lost eyes yelling at her for her to help.

"You don't need me, Damon. You need to die. You're a burden to Stefan and I. I love Stefan, and I will _always_ choose Stefan. It's never going to be you." Elena compellingly says, walking closer to him.

Damon is on the verge of breaking. He's standing on the edge of the mountain, deciding whether or not to jump off. The cool breeze blows on the back of his neck.

"You think I'm a burden? Look who's talking? We had to save you every single damn day. Oh no, Elena's in danger, I have to drop everything now to save you. I would have risked my life to save yours. I would've died for you."

He takes his right foot and dangles it off the edge, glancing at the long drop down. He can imagine himself falling down. It won't kill him, but it sure as heck would give him a lot of pain.

"You are pathetic, Damon Salvatore. I don't know why I chose you. Stefan is a much more charming person than you will ever be. He respects my decisions and he is a real gentleman. You are just his little pet that follows him around every day. When I look at you, it just reminds me of all the pain that has happened in my life. You are a waste of space."

He leans his weight onto the free-floating foot off of the edge.

"Damon, stop."

Someone pulls him over the edge, taking him off balance.

"Stefan?" Damon looks around the room, immediately recognizing the distinctive voice that belongs to his brother.

"Damon, snap out of it."

"Oh, now you find me? This is some bad timing, brother." Damon says, settling his eyes on a shadow in the corner of the room. The shadowed figure walks closer to Damon. Damon looks around the room, searching for Elena.

"She's not here, Damon. Stop looking for her." Damon looks at the figure walking out of the shaded area in the room.

"She chose me, remember?" The guy expected to be his brother, was, in fact, his kidnapper, Vaughn.

Damon drops his mouth and starts to tug on the restraints. Vaughn has tortured him for days, without giving him a single drop of blood. His wounds still are not healed yet, and his whole entire body is sore and numb. He's as weak as a rag doll, and he's been flailing around for the past week, unable to control his movements.

Vaughn walks closer to Damon, his face morphing into Stefan, and then back to Vaughn. Once he's standing right in front of him, he crouches down and takes out a shot. Damon starts to struggle in his restraints, as he has gotten that habit from the weeks he has stayed captive. Vaughn- now Stefan injects him with a red, milky substance.

Blood.

* * *

 **3 Weeks Later**

Damon groans as he moves his sore body. He hasn't been given blood for about three weeks now. He can feel himself slowly desiccating, and his ribs grinding against his skin every time he moves.

He's still thinking about the time where Stefan- or Vaughn gave him blood. _Was it Klaus's blood? Since when did he have Klaus's blood? Did Stefan give it to me? Or Vaughn? It had to have been Vaughn, if it was Stefan, he would've saved me. What is going on right now? I'm really starting to question my own judgments._

 _Where's Stefan?_ If he weren't coming, Damon would have to break out of here. He looks at his hands that are chained down to the ground. _Nope, there is no way I can get out of here. I don't have any energy left. Escaping is not an option anymore._ The rubbings of the chains on his wrists make it raw and sore. He touches his wrist, immediately flinching.

The room is cold and dim. There was only one source of light- from what Damon has observed, and it comes from a small window near the top of the wall. The window is always closed, so Damon can't look outside. _Wait, light…_ Damon looks down at his fingers and touches the finger that always held the daylight ring. He looks down on the finger, and couldn't find the ring. He starts panicking, looking around on the floor in hopes of finding it. _This is bad. This is really bad. I need my daylight ring. What am I going to do? How am I going to leave this place without my daylight ring? I really need Bon-Bon here to help me make a new daylight ring. Where did my ring go? Did that idiot take my ring?_ He's miserable in here.

All of a sudden, a loud puff comes out from a little box on the left corner of the room. A strange mist is coming out of the medium sized box. Damon eyes the mist carefully, realizing its vervain. His eyes grow large as he watches the mist spread out through the room. There was soon going to be vervain everywhere. Everything he touches would be infected with it, and the side effects include pain and burning. Although it's not like he can touch anything, he was chained up on the floor. His limbs feel sore and he hasn't been getting any proper exercise. His bones ache whenever he moves, and he feels stiff. He can't even sit up, much less stand.

"Seriously? Vervain?" Damon mumbled out.

Out of nowhere, a loud booming voice came from a speaker on the right corner of the room. It was Elena's voice.

"It's always gonna be Stefan." Damon heard that quote one too many times. It's engraved in his brain. _It's always gonna be Stefan…_ How many times did she say that Katherine included? More times than he can count. It keeps repeating the same exact thing, "It's always gonna be Stefan."

"I GET IT, OKAY!" Damon screams out. His throat immediately starts burning up. The vervain creeps towards his skin. He starts coughing uncontrollably. He turns facing the floor and sees specks of blood landing on the floor. There was a faded red color from before when he puked up blood. His skin is burning up. Red bumps start to form on his pure white skin. His blazing blue eyes are squeezed tight, trying to hold the tears in. His mind is screaming with pain and agony, but one particularly sticks out like a sore thumb- s _he is always going to choose Stefan._

* * *

 ** _That was a total pain to get out. It took me roughly 3-4 hours trying to come up with scenarios, and then half way I came up with the idea of adding in Damon's hallucinations. Haha well, it was either a hit or miss. Please review it encourages me to write more. And thanks for reading! I hope you liked it :)  
-Angela_**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N- It has been 4 weeks of Damon being held captive. In this chapter, it will include Qetsiyah's blood in the rock thing and I know that Bonnie soaked it up or something when she was leaving the prison world, but let's just pretend that she brought it back to the real world, and it still has a lot of Qetsiyah's blood in it.  
Disclaimer- I wish I own TVD because then I would be just staring into Ian's eyes the whole day, and then we wouldn't get anything done, and then no one would like TVD, so actually I guess it's a good thing I don't own it.  
** **This is a long intro, but I just wanted to say thank you so, so much Shiningstar324 for liking this story and reviewing!And thank you, thank you, thank you so much maayan21051 for reviewing AGAIN! You guys are awesome!**

 **Chapter 5- Strength In Magic**

 **One Week Later**

Everyone is on their toes on finding Damon, especially because they refuse to take "dead" as an answer. Bonnie and everyone else is grazing through the spell books looking for an uncloaking spell she could do in the Salvatore Boarding House. After hours of searching, Bonnie stands up, trying to grab everyone's attention from the books to her.

"If a witch can put on a cloaking spell that stays up for a month- maybe even longer, that person must be really strong. I think I could stop it from working, but only for a couple of minutes." Bonnie declares, after hours of searching. Stefan, Caroline, and Alaric stop rummaging through bookshelves, and they all look at Bonnie.

Matt decided not to take part in this because Damon and he weren't always on good terms. Everyone was disappointed at him on how stubborn he was. Matt put through pressure, found an alternative way to help. He is going to be watching the town. If anyone were acting suspicious, he would report back to them immediately. It's easy now since he's officially a sergeant of the police department.

"Yeah sure, but there could be more than one witch behind this," Caroline says, looking defeated.

"Let's say that it is a whole group of witches- a coven, then that would mean more power is put into the spell, so I most likely can't do it by myself, and even if I can, it would only last for seconds," Bonnie says, matter-of-factly.

"Seconds?" Stefan's voice peeps up from behind a stack of books.

"Yes. I would need a witch- or witches because I definitely won't have enough power to sustain it for longer than a second or two." Bonnie replies.

"We need more witches? How are we supposed to find a group of witches that are _willing to help_ in Mystic Falls?" Alaric asks.

"Wait," Caroline's eyes light up enthusiastically, "do we still have Qetsiyah's blood in the rock?" Glances are exchanging in the book-filled room.

"Oh my god, yes! Yes! I brought it back with me when I came back from the prison worlds! Oh, my god! Caroline!" Bonnie's eyes light up like a chandelier.

"I put it in my Gram's house with all of her grimoires! I'll be right back." Bonnie declares, running outside to go in her car.

* * *

"Excuse me." Stefan says, emotionless. Alaric and Caroline both look at each other, knowing something was wrong with Stefan.

While they're waiting for Bonnie to come back, Stefan walks upstairs into Damon's room. He looks around the room. The bed is a huge mess; half of the comforter is on the floor, and there is a crack in the wall. _Oh my god, what happened to Damon?_ Stefan sighs and sits down on the large and soft bed, staring at the cracked wall. The door busts open with Caroline standing by the doorway and Alaric leaning against the doorframe with his arms crossed.

"Stefan-" Caroline starts.

"Don't... Just not right now. I can't hear it. It's my entire fault. If I didn't leave he would still be here." Stefan interrupts her, still staring at the wall

"No it's not your fault, god damn it. I lost my wife in our own wedding and she didn't even get to say her vow yet." Alaric says, his hatred for Kai growing more and more. It's a good thing that Damon killed him, or else it would've been human vs. witch/vampire, and the outcome would be pretty obvious.

"I'm sorry, Alaric. No one should ever go through that." Stefan says, finally taking his eyes off of the wall, but now staring at his hands fumbling together.

"That's because no one gets married to a witch whose coven tradition is to merge with their twin, and their twin is a psychopathic killer." Alaric lets out, angry with himself. He lets out a sigh and uncrosses his arms and walks to the stairs to go downstairs.

"Alaric..." Caroline starts, hesitating whether or not she should go coax him or Stefan. "Stefan, Damon's going to be fine. It's not your fault, and it never will be in a million years!" Caroline steps into the room, eyeing the wall but not making any commentary on it.

"But if I was here, this wouldn't have happened. I was being selfish for wanting to be alone when it's so clearly obvious that Damon should not have been alone." Stefan frowns.

"We're going to get him back. Don't worry! I mean like honestly I don't even like Damon," Caroline and Stefan both laugh knowing that half the people helping hate him. "But I'll help you get him back, you can count me on that." Caroline assures Stefan before their vampire hearing perks up, and they hear the door open.

* * *

"Bonnie! Bonnie!" Caroline screams as she runs down the stairs. Stefan is walking behind her. "You're back!"

"I got the rock!" Bonnie says in a singsong voice. She holds the rock above her head and waves it around.

"Yay! Congrats! Bonnie, you are so great!" Stefan mocks.

Bonnie and Caroline start laughing and even the brooding Stefan smiles at his comment. And in that moment, for a split second, everyone was actually happy.

* * *

"Bonnie, wake up! Hurry!" Cries Stefan. This is the only way to get Damon back. Bonnie has to wake up.

"Stefan! She just got her energy drained from that spell! Give her some time to get her energy up before she does another spell." Caroline scolds.

Stefan paces back and forth from the living room. He can't begin to imagine what kind of pain Damon must be going through.

Bonnie gasps out loud sitting upright, and everyone comes rushing towards her.

"Bonnie, please do the locator spell." Pleads Stefan.

"Wait!" Caroline yells, "Bonnie, are you okay? Can you do another spell?" she asks with sincerity.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Bonnie says, before continuing. "Okay, the cloaking spell is off, we need to hurry now. I need your blood, Stefan." Bonnie looks up with determination setting in her eyes.

She reaches for a knife next to her and holds it in her hands. Stefan takes the knife and cuts his palm. The blood drips down from his hands and onto the map. She starts chanting, and the flames on the candles rise, and then they burn out. The blood on the map is moving faster and the trail of blood on the map starts disappearing soon after. They sit there in the darkness, as the only voice in the room everyone can hear is Bonnie's. She opens her eyes, and everyone is on their toes. They have a glimmer of hope left in their eyes.

The blood stops inside the middle of the steep woods. What was a large pool of blood on the map, is now only a tiny dot.

"Damon's in the woods..." Everyone comes closer to look at the map.

"Why is the dot of blood so small compared to other times we did it?" Alaric asks, making everyone else wonder the same thing too.

"He's dying," Bonnie replies back, causing Stefan to sit down to steady his nerves, and shove his face in his hands.

* * *

 **I really hope you liked this chapter! It took me a while to get it finished. And also, this chapter isn't in Damon's POV because I'm going to be mean for a second and make you wait for Damon. Oh and also I have a bad way of writing in past tense and then changing into the present, so yeah...**

 *****BUT I just wanted to say that I really appreciate everyone who reviews, favorite, and/or followed this story! I really like to write, and I have no idea why but I really like hurt fics on my favorite characters haha. Anyways, I just wanted to say thank you so much, and I really mean it, because you guys are ALL SO NICEEE! I LOVE YOU GUYS SO MUCH!***  
-Angela**


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N- I'm going to make this short, last chapter had a REALLY long authors note. This chapter might be confusing, and if it is, let me know because I can change and clarify the chapter. I just wanted to say thanks to ShiningStar324 for reviewing for like the third time! And also PR. Salvatore for telling me that you also like hurt fics, because I'M FINALLY NOT THE ONLY ONE! Thank you guys so much for continuing to read this, I really appreciate it!  
Disclaimer- I still don't own TVD, but I think I might be psychic because I predicted that the first episode of season 8's title would be "Hello Brother" AND I WAS RIGHT HAHA. I'm a mini Bonnie right now. And the second episode is called "Today Will Be Different" I can't wait!**

 **Chapter 6- Drowning in Fear**

"AAAHHHHH!" Damon screams out in pain. His voice is raspy. The vervain is still burning him. It stings his eyes. He's losing his senses on his hands and feet, and his swelling eyes are not making it any easier on him.

"Please, stop… Please… I'll do anything..." Damon pleads, desperate.

His breathing is weak and his throat is burning up into flames. Damon has never experienced this feeling ever before, that's because Stefan was always there to save him. He knows that when Stefan comes to save him, the damage would be already done. For the first time ever, Stefan would be too late. He closes his eyes for what seems like the longest time ever, and then they open again, with a new set of sweat rolling down his bruised and battered face. _I can't do this anymore. I want to die._ And right on time, he takes his last breath before his heavy eyelids decide to cover his faint eyes. His pulse is slowing down, almost to a halt.

* * *

He wakes up from a sudden movement of him getting dragged out by two other people- _vampires_ , Damon presumes. After what seems like a century, they finally bring him to a much bigger room. The floor is beautiful- a glass mural on the ground- a mural of a garden. Flowers are everywhere, covering the whole floor. The ceiling's raised high with some windows on the ceiling. _Well, so much for a little shack._ The light coming from a large window on the ceiling is blinding him. _Why am I not burning up in flames right now? Please don't tell me that the windows are "double-paned and tempered". How do I even know that? Oh right, Rose. Rose did not deserve to die from that bite. It should've been me, I cheat death way too much, and now it's all coming back at me. If only the UV rays can penetrate through the window and kill me. I accept my fate, anyways, Vaughn has been holding it off for far too long. It's time._

They chain him up to a concrete wall. A little cart- a couple feet away- holds knives and other torturing devices. He looks around the room and sees that it is in a circle shape. _Shouldn't this be pretty obvious that a huge mansion is in the middle of the woods?_ He can't take it much longer. Any more torturing and he would be done for. His sweat is covering all of his body. Vaughn walks over and takes a knife off of the stainless steel cart.

"Welcome back, Damon. I'll start easy on you, seeing that you are so weak." Vaughn proudly announces. He tightens his grip on the knife.

"Where am I?" Damon grunts out through gritted teeth.

"First, I need to bleed you dry." Vaughn ignoring Damon's question, and he stabs the knife right under his heart. Damon can feel the shock impact string into his heart. He shrieks out in pain and agony. The blood pouring from the stab is like the Niagara Falls. It isn't going to heal anytime soon. Damon's face is ghost white. Vaughn grins; looking like a true psychopath. He keeps on stabbing him with the knife. Vaughn is like the artist while Damon's the canvas. After a while, he switches to something a little more painful- a gun loaded with wooden bullets.

"Don't worry, it's not laced with werewolf venom." He pauses to chuckle out a laugh. Damon rolls his eyes. Vaughn grabs the gun, and shoots; the bullet ends up right in his stomach.

Bang.

"Agh!" Damon yells. His shirt is getting bright red.

Bang.

Another one comes out of the barrel, right onto his left leg.

Bang.

Bang.

Bang.

Bullet after bullet, they just keep coming. Damon screams after every bullet are fired. It makes a huge booming noise, and he's hoping it can attract any lingering people nearby. He can't take out any bullets because he is chained up, therefore having none of them heal. He has to endure the pain, hold it in. Blood is pouring out of many different places, making Damon a human waterfall.

Vaughn switches to a sharper and longer knife. He proceeds to slice up his stomach, arms, legs, everything. He can't take it anymore. He coughs up more blood, and he can feel himself dying inside. His body is failing to heal itself up because he hasn't been drinking any blood ever since he got injected with Klaus's blood to heal his werewolf. He is suffering. He could feel himself slowly desiccating. _Where's Stefan? Did he give up on me? I was a lost cause. I AM a lost cause. I need to escape on my own. Where even am I? Am I still in Mystic Falls? I've been losing my energy since Day 1 here._ Damon fights against the chains, even though his body hurts like as if a truck hit him and then right after got run over by 100,000 cars.

"LET ME GO!" Damon screams out, using up all of the energy he has left. He tries to break from the iron restraints, but he can't. "I need to go home, please. I miss Stefan and Elena. I miss Alaric, Bonnie, Caroline..." Damon's voice is fading away, fading into his soft crying. "Matt… Tyler..." His voice is barely audible, and his sobs are rising in volume.

"You still have quite the energy in you, don't you?" Damon tries to ignore what Vaughn just said, but he can't. He's scared and vulnerable. His heart is pounding like it's going to jump out. His fingers are trembling, and his eyes are red from crying. His face is covered in sweat, and he can't move at all. His eyes are filling with tears again. He is scared for his life. Vaughn takes a stake that is dripping in vervain and stabs him.

"I need to go home..." Damon whispers out using his last breath.

* * *

Blood is everywhere. It's on the floor, the wall, everywhere. It's pouring down the room, flooding it. The mural on the floor is going to get destroyed. The circular room expands. The walls will be stained with red. Damon just hangs on the wall, lifeless, drowning in his blood, drowning in his own mind. Fantasy and real life merges together and becomes one.

All of a sudden, he's back in the Salvatore Boarding House. The wall is crying, crying out blood- Damon's blood. The blood starts dripping down, forming words.

 _WE'RE COMING  
SAVE YOURSELF  
HELP  
SELFISH  
HATRED  
UNLOVABLE_

Damon looks at the wall through his tears. The blood all of a sudden covers the whole wall, pouring down. It falls onto the floor, his toes barely touching it. He squirms in his restraints, and they break. He collapses onto the floor in a heap, and the blood is already up to his shoulders. He stands in there, dazed at what is going on around him. The blood feels thick and heavy, weighing Damon down, telling him to end it himself.

It's up to his neck now, staining his neck with a dark red wine color.

All of a sudden, the blood disappears. He's not in the Boarding House anymore, he's left all alone in a white and windowless room. There's a word spelled out on the pure white-tiled floor, "HE _"._

The room changes back into the Salvatore Boarding House, the blood pool reaching his chin.

Damon starts to panic, swimming around the blood until he gets transported back to the bright white room. Everything is the same, except his clothes, are dripping in blood. The perfect room is now stained with his blood. Where the word HE used to be is now replaced with "NEEDS". Damon stares at the word in confusion. _He needs? Who needs? I need? Where am I?_

He's back in the bloodbath, and the blood is filling into his mouth. He blinks, and then finds himself back in the white room, which is now slowly starting to fill with blood. The floor now spells out "HELP". _He needs help. Do I need help? I need help._

He comes to the realization that he needs help. _What do I need help with?_ He blinks, and he's back into the Boarding House, the blood rapidly pouring down, right up to his nose, and it keeps coming. A distinctive voice is pounding in his head. It's Elena's.

"You can't be saved."

 _I need help. I need help. I can be saved. I can be saved. But what if I can't be saved. I don't need help. I can't put more burdens on Stefan and everyone. I don't need help. I can't be saved; it would be wasting their time if they try to save me. I can't be saved. I don't need help._

The blood is now reaching below his eyes, and he lets out a sigh.

He submerges himself, forcing himself not to go back up to the surface for air. His slick black hair is sticky and reeks of iron. He closes his eyes and lets himself fade into the white coming towards him.

 _I don't need help._

* * *

 **Okay, I'm done. And updating every day is getting kind of hard because for me, school is starting soon, and so I won't have time to upload every day. I just hope that once school starts I won't be too busy with homework, even though I probably will be. Maybe I should upload every week? That would stink for you guys who are reading, though... I'm not sure; I'll figure it out when the time comes. Anyways, thanks for reading, and please review! I love you guys!  
-Angela**


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N- Yes, I haven't been posting. No, I did not forget about it. I'm writing more chapters, so once school starts I won't be forcing myself to write terrible chapters to get them out. I did update chapters 1-6, fixing grammatical errors that I made, so credits to Microsoft Word for being a rock ;) I still have a long way to go with this story, so please be patient with me! I want to say thanks to mayaan21051 for being so supportive with my chapters. You are so nice, and I'm really happy that you are enjoying my fanfic! And also thanks to shiningstar324 for being so enthusiastic haha. You guys are life!  
Disclaimer- Do I really have to put this on every chapter? Okay, well... I don't own TVD! But I'm a HUGE fan.**

 **Chapter 7- At Last**

"Goddammit Damon! Why do you put so much stress on me?" Stefan yells in his car, banging on the leather steering wheel.

"I can't bear the thought of losing you. I'm coming. Please stay alive, for me." Tears are welling up in his eyes.

He drives to the entrance of the forest. Caroline, Alaric, and Bonnie are trailing behind him. Stefan had asked for some privacy driving to the forest where Damon would be.

The closer he gets to the forest, the louder his heart pounds, and the more nervous he gets. He can't imagine what kind of pain and suffering Damon has gone through during the past month. He stops his car on a gravel lot, and he takes one deep breath and steps out to face the dense forest. Bonnie, Alaric, and Caroline all stands next to him, embracing the forest, and basking in the sunlight.

* * *

 **Damon's POV**

 _I end up back in the plain room. I'm still chained, although I can feel myself desiccating._

 _My brain has been empty and dazed for the past few days, ever since they tortured me._ _I pulled all the bullets out of my body and tried to minimize my movements so I can heal faster. Right after that day, they opened the window. It was miserable. I felt myself slowly burning and turning into ash. I felt sick to my stomach. I was finally about to die until they closed the window. I felt the red bumps still bubbling on my skin. It was agonizing. It didn't heal until 4-5 hours after. It's surprising I even lasted this long. That was a bad sign._

 _My body is pleading for blood, but I can't give it any. Every muscle I move hurts like as if sandpaper is rubbing against it and bricks are weighing on top of it. Even a little drop of blood can ease the pain a little. I give up on the hope of ever being found. Even if I did get saved, I don't think I can ever get out of this barrier my brain built. I'm in a living nightmare, and I can never escape. It's a long maze inside my brain, and every turn I make ends in a dead end. I'm broken, and I can't run away from the demon living inside me. I can never be happy anymore. I'm brain dead._

Even though he's as weak as a twig, his vampire hearing still works. He listens in on a woman talking to what sounds like him, but he knows that it's Vaughn.

"Stefan, Bonnie, Caroline, and Alaric are here. They just got to the forest."

"Ah, perfect. We've been waiting for this. Initiate Plan S.D."

"Are you sure you want to? We could easily kill them off…"

"Yes, but also activate the dome once everyone- excluding Damon, is out."

"Yes, sir. Guys, gather around!" the woman screams out. A loud buzz comes from the speakers in the room Damon is in. And from the speaker, comes an ear piercing sound that cuts off Damon's super hearing, breaking him from the conversation.

"Ahhhhhh!" He screams out loud. He curls up, covering his ears with his hands. The noise is so high pitched that it gives only Damon a headache because he's the only one close enough to hear it at such a high pitch. Everyone else is wearing soundproof headphones. It gives Damon déjà vu, to the many times when Bonnie does the witchy woo thing to his brain, popping his blood cells, and his head pounding. By now, he's convincing himself that there is a little person inside his head with a large gong, banging the gong like a four-year-old discovering the sound a pot makes when you hit utensils against it.

 _Why does he want me to suffer this much? And what is S.D.? Sudden Death? Soon Dead? Speedy Death? What does it mean? The noise is pouring into my ears, engulfing my brain. I can't take the sound much longer and then I give in; finally blacking out. And then the answer comes floating into my lost brain; Switching Damon._

* * *

 **Stefan's POV**

Stefan and the crew all walk into the forest to immediately be greeted by strangers pouring out of the forest.

"Is there a shed in here somewhere? Around the middle of the forest?" Caroline asks.

"Oh yes! The Tabitha Cellar. Fun fact, it was used back in the 1800's to torture vampires. It's a myth, but most of us believe it. Vampires used to rule Mystic Falls before their downfall." A person speaks out. Her name is Psyche.

After a while of climbing and walking, they stop right in front of the cellar. Here lies Damon Salvatore, great brother, good friend, and loving boyfriend. Stefan walks up to the door, pounding on it.

"GIVE ME BACK DAMON!" He screams, banging on the door as hard as he possibly can. The door opens and a tall brown and gray-haired guy with gray eyes greets him.

"Hello, what brings you here?" He looks behind Stefan and smiles at him.

 _This guy looks surprisingly nice to kidnap my brother._

"I'm here for my brother. I know you have him, so bring him out and we'll have a chat." Stefan says, confidently. He learned from his years on Earth that you don't want your enemies to know your weakness. He snaps his fingers, and a group of vampires brings out Damon. He seems so weak, so lost. Stefan's eyes widen at the state he was in.

"Oh my god, Damon!" Bonnie cries out.

"Damon! Are you okay?" Asks Caroline; immediately turning away to hug Alaric. Alaric has no words to express how he felt. Exasperation is how Stefan feels. Stefan feels like as if someone has knocked the wind out of him. He can't breathe properly. The man shoves Damon towards Stefan, and he collapses down, groaning.

"Take him. I'm just about done with him anyways." He says out loud. Stefan takes one last glance at the man and punches him in the face. hHe then looks at knocked-out Damon on the porch. He doesn't know what to do.

He kneels down beside him and helps him get up. Alaric comes over and helps Stefan slowly raise Damon. Damon, still out of it, puts all his weight on Stefan and Alaric. Bonnie and Caroline walk in the back, giving the men some distance. They slowly walk to the outskirts of the forest. As they walk out of the forest, hundreds of people start to walk out with them. Caroline turns around, shocked at how many people there were. _Why were they all coming out?_ They all turn and face the forest and starts chanting a spell. Caroline glances at Bonnie.

"Bonnie… What are they doing?" Caroline asks, her high pitch voice rings out above the loud murmuring.

"I'm really not sure. I don't recognize the spell, but some of the words sound familiar." Bonnie says, zoning her hearing into the spell.

"It sounds like as if they are doing a boundary spell, I'm not really sure if it is, though." Unsure, she continues to listen as Stefan and Alaric drags an injured Damon into the car.

* * *

 **Thank you so much for reading! Please review and favorite this story! This chapter is kind of bland, so if you have any ideas, I'll gladly accept them, and put them into consideration. I have an idea, but I'm not sure I want to go through with it. I love you guys so much, and thanks for reading and sticking with this story!  
-Angela**


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N- HIII! School starts in less than a week, so I'm not going to be posting as much. I just want to say thanks to ShiningStar324 and PR Salvatore for suggesting ideas! I will surely add them in, once Damon gets saved ;) I've been trying to make Damon sound a little off, a little more broken, but so far I think I'm failing. I always forget to ask but comment what ships you want to happen.  
Disclaimer- Never have and (probably) never will own TVD. But, I did binge watch season 7 for the second time, and I just stopped at the scene where Damon got stabbed with the phoenix sword, and it sent chills down my spine. It was so sad how Stefan was screaming "Damon" in slow motion when he got stabbed, I was going to cry, it was a great episode in my opinion!  
**

 **Chapter 8- Lost and Still Not Found**

 **Damon's POV**

Damon wakes up to hear a parade of knocks. The knocks are more like banging- big powerful and loud bangs.

He uses his vampire hearing to listen in on the conversation.

 _I can hear Stefan's voice. Wait- Stefan!_ Damon's eyes immediately brighten up. _He's here to save me!_

Damon rattles his chains as he tries to stand up. His legs can't hold up his weight, and the floor beneath him is like quicksand- he quickly sinks down.

 _Are they going to break out in a fight? Wait, I didn't hear the man invite Stefan in. Did I get invited in? Well, I obviously am invited in, or else I would be long dead._ _I know I should be happy that Stefan is here, but I really am not. I don't feel any emotions at all. Is my humanity off? I definitely feel like it is, but I don't remember turning it off._

 _I can feel a wrecking ball just slamming my brain inside my head. I don't understand anything- I can't understand anything. All I know is that I'm fine, and I can get out of this mess alone. Stefan doesn't need to come and save me all the time. He made me lose my chance at killing Klaus because he was saving me, from what, my own death? If I die, he gets the girl. Stefan always gets the girl. It's the world pulling them together; they're destined for each other. I'm just an obstacle, always in their way. If Elena were here, she would probably go running back to Stefan. Stefan, Stefan, Stefan... He's always the hero._

Damon tenses his muscles and puts his vampire hearing to the test.

"Hello, what brings you here today?" Damon doesn't recognize the voice that's speaking.

"I'm here for my brother. I know you have him, so bring him out and we'll have a chat." Stefan replies to the mysterious man.

 _He's always been one of those compromising people; the ones who holds up peace signs, and say "Violence is never the answer". He is always so annoying when he does that. And that's why he's so different from me. I would have ripped that person's heart out, but the Bambi eater always compromises with people._

"Oh my god, Damon!" That is the familiar voice of Ms. Bon-Bon. Hearing Bonnie's voice soothes Damon's frantic and jumbled up mind.

"Damon! Are you okay?" And that was the blonde vamp, Care Bear. Her positivity brings a limp smile onto Damon's sweaty and pale face.

 _But I'm not with them. I don't know where they are; I don't even know where I am. How are they talking about me when they don't even see me?_

"Take him. I'm just about done with him anyways." Speaks the anonymous person.

 _I hear a shuffling going on upstairs. Take who? Take me? I'm still here!_

 _"Stefan…_ Stefan…" Damon whispers, trying to get Stefan to turn on his vampire hearing.

"Please help me, Stefan." Damon's voice is barely audible, but his raw throat can only take so much.

And then, Damon realizes something.

 _Before I blacked out for what seemed like the 300th time, they said S.D., which stood for… Switching Damon._

Panic rushes up to Damon's face. _I can't stay here. I'm going to desiccate before they find me. But I don't need help. I'm perfectly fine. They can't save me. Why am I thinking about that? I need to go and get Stefan to come back to me._

"Hurry, we need to leave."

"They're doing it now!"

"Fred! Come on!"

"We don't have much time left."

"We can't be stuck in here."

" _I feel bad for Damon."_

That comment stings Damon. _This person feels bad for me? Why? What are they going to do to me that they couldn't have possibly done already?_ Damon rattles his metal chains harder, but all he can hear is the silence. They're gone. They have the wrong Damon. That's why he took my daylight ring. He's been planning this all along. Damon's breathing tightens. His heart rate speeds up into a dangerous zone. Footsteps are running out of the place he's trapped in. Damon takes one more look to the metal door on his left, in hopes of seeing Stefan. In hopes of him realizing that it isn't the right Damon and that the real Damon is still trapped somewhere. But there was no one there. No one there to save him from what is going to happen next, no one to help him go through this. And then, he closes his eyes; a single drop escapes his agonizing blue eyes.

* * *

"Help! My brother- he's shot! Help!" Damon screams at the top of his throat while kneeling. He's screaming while covering Stefan's bleeding gunshot wound.

Damon looks around the woods, panic in his eyes. He's trying to find someone who can help Stefan. He screams with a face full of tears. His brother is going to die, and no one is going to help him. Damon wipes his tears off using his dirt-ridden sleeves. It's thundering and pouring outside in Mystic Falls, and he can't think of a better weather that fits his mood right now. He looks at the pale and faint Stefan laying on the dirt road, blood gushing out from his side. Damon applies pressure onto his side while glancing around the wooden forest, where they are capturing all the vampires. He sees a shadowy figure in the woods. Damon rips his hands up and screams out.

"HELP! OVER HERE! I NEED HELP!" Damon waves his hands frantically up in the air. The person is coming closer to him.

"Brother, someone's coming. You're going to be all right. You're going to be all right... Stay with me. Stay with me, Stefan." Damon assures a hurting Stefan.

The figure is running now, coming closer to Damon. Damon breathes out a sigh of relief, seeing that the person is coming. The closer he comes, the more features Damon can see on the man's face. Damon looks at the stranger. He has black hair. The rain is pouring down much harder now, blurring Damon's vision. The mud on the ground gets wetter. Big drops of rain plop down on Stefan's featureless face. Damon looks down to see how Stefan's condition is, and looks back up. There wasn't anyone there anymore.

"No, no, no, no, no..." Damon mutters under his breath. He looks back down to Stefan and checks his pulse. Nothing. He looks back up and sees himself standing in front of him with a gun.

"Who are you?" Damon asks.

"Why, I'm Vaughn. It was nice to meet you." Vaughn stares into Damon, giving him a smirk. He holds up his gun and shoots Stefan.

"NO STOP! PLEASE STOP!" Damon screams out, rain pouring onto his face, mixing with his tears. He scrambles his hands around Stefan's stomach, trying to find the new wound. He stares at a new more vibrant red spreading on Stefan's wet white shirt. His eyes grow wide at the blood spreading. He starts crying even harder, and he can feel his brother's life drain out of his body.

"No, Stefan... Stefan. Stefan!" Damon screams out. He pulls his brother into his arms, Stefan's head resting on Damon's lap. Damon shakes Stefan hoping that it can wake Stefan up.

"You can't die, Stefan. Not now. Please don't leave me, I need you!" Damon cries, his eyes puffy and his face red.

"I can't stop Damon. You're worthless. You have no purpose in this world. With you gone, Stefan can finally have a breather, and you can be rid of this world forever." Vaughn laughs out.

"YOU KILLED HIM! YOU KILLED MY BROTHER, YOU BASTARD." Damon says, not expecting an answer.

"I'm a bastard? Do you really want to know who I am? I am you, Damon. You are the bastard. And I can't stop until you're dead." Vaughn says, before holding up his gun, and shooting Damon in the head. The bullet rips through his skull and red thick blood pour out from his skull, sinking into the dirt beneath him.

* * *

Damon wakes up from the shock. Face full of sweat, he breaks right through the chains, his adrenaline pumping up. _Vaughn is NOT getting away with this. I will kill him even if it's the last thing I do. I am Damon Salvatore; I can do whatever I want. No one is going to stop me this time, not even Stefan._ It takes him a while to get his balance together. Granted, he hasn't been using his legs for more than a month or so. He toddles to the iron door, and rips open the lock.

He crawls up the stairs to find himself in a living room. _They were all living in luxury while I was trapped in the cellar chained up._ The front door is wide open, with the sun spilling in. Damon forgets that he doesn't have his ring on, and walks right into the sunlight.

"Aaaahh!" He screams out loud.

The sun on his skin is burning up. He can feel himself burning alive. He painfully drags himself out of the doorway, and then falls down. He catches his breath and then looks around, weak and tired. He mentally slaps himself, thinking of how stupid he is. _Damn it Damon. Can you do anything right for once? Why are you so stupid? You worthless little piece of-_ He mentally cuts himself off, and

He sees the kitchen. _Since they're all vampires, they should have some blood in the fridge._ He uses up all the strength he has left getting up and walking to the kitchen, careful to avoid any light. The last thing he needs is to get stuck in the sunlight again. Then, he really would be toast. Damon's barely even healing in his first run-in with the sun.

He opens it, feeling the coolness of the fridge hit him. In the fridge, there's a little cup of blood; type AB. He takes the cup and empties it. Savoring the flavor, he swishes it around his mouth. _I need more._ He can feel himself getting stronger, and his wounds finally heal a little.

And that was that.

Next mission: Getting the heck out of this forest, and finding his way home.

* * *

 **Thank you so much for reading! I've realized that all the chapters in Stefan's POV have fewer views than the chapters focused on Damon. In order to understand the story, it's probably a good idea to read all the chapters, to avoid any confusion. Because in chapters that start off with focusing on Stefan, I can change to Damon's POV mid-way through the story. I know that Stefan's POV might be a bit boring, you can just skim through it to just see what's going on haha. Anyways, review with suggestions, and please follow and favorite this story! I love you all and thanks for reading!  
-Angela**


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N- School started for me! I'm going to try and keep up with the chapters! I love that you guys continued with reading this story. It really makes me super excited when I go to my email and see reviews or favorites or follows on this story. It means a lot and it motivates me to upload more chapters. I just want to say that if there is ANY way to make this story better, please feel free to write a review, or private message me. I would really appreciate it!  
Thank you so much ShiningStar324 for reviewing! Haha, you've reviewed so much that I've already memorized your username. I just wanted to say thanks for supporting my story, even though they can be dull and boring. I really appreciate it, you're the best! And also thanks to sloksingh45 for reviewing and liking my story. I really appreciate it!**

 **Chapter 9- Safe**

Stefan drives as fast as he can with Vaughn next to him. Stefan feels a wave of relief as he glances back to see the poor, fragile "Damon" soundly sleeping in the shotgun. He's overcome with happiness. " _If Stefan finds out that I'm not Damon, then it's the end for me._ _That is why Stefan- or anyone cannot find out that I'm Damon. Or I'll kill whoever knows."_ Vaughn thinks.

He speeds his way to the Salvatore mansion, not caring if any policemen see him speeding. He can always just compel them off anyways.

Stefan carries Damon in his arms and gently lays him down on the couch. He can finally breathe now. He's been holding his breath ever since he got him from the man.

He gets some blood bags from out of the fridge in the cellar and speeds back upstairs, next to Vaughn, and carefully places it in his mouth, squeezing the bag for him. It goes right down his throat, which is a good sign. " _His body is still functioning"_ Stefan opens his pearly eyes, his face sweating all around. He looks around his new setting. Stefan, Caroline, Bonnie, and Alaric huddle around him in a circle.

"Damon! You're awake!" Bonnie cries out.

"How are you feeling?" Caroline asks him.

"Uhm, good," Vaughn speaks out faking a raspy voice. He lets out a cough, letting them know that he still doesn't feel good. Vaughn eyes the new setting, looking around. He's lying down, looking up at everyone. Alaric has his arms crossed, and Stefan is giving him the worried-but-I'm-glad-you're-safe face. Bonnie and Caroline are both staring Vaughn down as if they are realizing that Damon is not the usual quirky and fun Damon.

"Damon, what happened?" Stefan pops the question that everyone is thinking of. Vaughn has been waiting for this question. He mentally smiles at everyone, thanking Stefan for asking. He can make himself sound very vulnerable and scared, so then everyone can drop all suspicions on him. His eyes immediately drop down, pretending as if he doesn't want to relive the memory again. Everyone stands in silence as Vaughn sighs out and opens his mouth.

"Everything… They tortured me with knives, wooden bullets, they even filled the air with vervain and _Elena_ …"

"Elena?" gasps out both Caroline and Bonnie. "What did they do with Elena?" Bonnie asks.

"It's always gonna be Stefan… They kept on replaying that in the speakers. It was torture. I am so glad you guys saved me." Vaughn says.

Caroline, Bonnie, and Alaric all look at each other. This is odd; Damon is usually never being this nice to everyone.

"Wow Damon, you're so nice. It's not like you." Caroline blurts out. Vaughn quickly puts on a poker face, and his face turns 50 shades paler. _Is Damon really this ungrateful? Wow, he deserves what I did to him._

"Well, you guys did just save my life. Any moment longer, and I would've been desiccating." Damon finally speaks out from the long awkward silence.

"Can we all just take a moment to appreciate that Damon's back? He just spent a month getting tortured." Stefan says, annoyed by everyone.

They all glance at each other before Bonnie breaks the silence.

"Stefan's right. Put your speculations aside. We're supposed to be here to comfort him."

Vaughn can easily be seen as uncomfortable. He attempts to stand up, but several hands reach forward to push him back down.

"Not now, Damon. You're still weak. I can't let you stand up right now. Here, drink." Stefan hands him a blood bag. Damon rips it open and chugs it all down.

"Wow, brother. After a month, you're still the hero. Have you ever thought of trading in the cape sometimes? Damon throws the empty blood bag onto the coffee table in front of him. He stands up, remembering to wobble a little bit before balancing himself, and goes to get a glass of Bourbon. He knows that Damon loves Bourbon and that it's his signature drink.

"Damon, about last time-" Stefan starts.

"This is what I've been waiting for this past month." Vaughn interrupts Stefan, trying not to go into that topic. He doesn't exactly know what happened between them, just that there was a fall-out between the brothers. Stefan looks towards the floor. He raises his glass high up and tilts it into his mouth. The amber liquid is running into his mouth like a river stream. He savors every sip, and slowly swallows it down. He smirks at how well he's doing at pretending to be Damon.

"Now, what have I missed for these months since I've been gone?" Vaughn asks.

"Nothing really… Same old Mystic Falls." Alaric answers. Vaughn and Alaric exchange smiles.

"I've missed you, buddy," Alaric says, reaching in to hug him.

"Me too…" Vaughn replies back, acting sad.

"I'm going to go change my clothes. I've been in these for more than a month." He says, glancing up to look at everyone.

* * *

Damon leaves the living room to go up to his room. He takes a herb out of his pocket, and using a match, burns it. He wafts it around his room, and goes into the bathroom and turns on all the faucets. While standing in the bathroom, he dials a number into a burner phone.

"Hello?" A female voice speaks from the other line.

"Dakota? It's Vaughn." He whispers, careful not be too loud.

"Sir, you did it?"

"Yup, the plan is in motion. You set the boundary?" Vaughn fiddles with his daylight ring that he stole from Damon. He can already imagine Damon walking out into the sun and bursting into flames. The thought of that races his heart beat and makes him giddy.

"Already did that, sir, right after you left."

"Good job, Dakota. I will reward you with what you requested, but do me one last favor."

"And that is?"

Vaughn lowers his voice and an evil glint forms in his eye.

"Make him suffer. Do whatever it takes to break him. I can tell a little bit of him is still in there, break that inch he has left. Don't let him get underneath your skin, he's good at doing that."

"I will, sir. I'll shatter him into a million pieces. I won't let you down."

"Good. If you do fail, there will be consequences." Vaughn eerily says into the phone before hanging up. He takes the burner phone and breaks it. He throws the pieces into the toilet, flushing them piece-by-piece.

" _Be careful, Damon. You have a lot coming for you. It's going to be one hell of a ride. But don't worry; you won't be alone much longer. I'll visit you one day."_ Vaughn whispers under his breath, before taking a shower and changing his clothes.

* * *

 **I admit, this chapter was really hard for me to write. I realized that when I edited this chapter, I only had about 460 words-ish. I'm really trying my best on writing more than 1,000, but sometimes I can't. I have written 2,000 characters one, so look forward to that! Thanks for reading, you guys are awesome!  
-** **Angela**


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N- T** **oday was quite the eventful day. My mom got her wallet stolen, so that was a blast. It was a long day to say the least. Anyways, this is the long chapter! I just want to say a quick thanks to ShiningStar324, I love reading all of your reviews! And maayan21051 for being so AWESOME and pming me ways to improve this story. And also, VampireLuvr for reviewing! The ideas you gave me are awesome. I haven't thought of Bonnie finding out first, which would be really cool. And I'm glad you like this story! THANK YOU ALLLLL SO MUCH FOR READING, I HOPE YOU LIKE THIS CHAPTER, TO MAKE UP FOR THE SHORT CHAPTER BEFORE!  
** **Disclaimer- I'm running out of things to say here other than "I still don't own TVD or Damon, Bonnie, Caroline, Stefan, Matt, etc."**

 **Chapter 10- Rules or Die**

Damon wakes up from the couch in the living room. He gasps for air from his weak and dry throat. He slowly holds himself up, propping his back against the armrest. He tilts his head slightly back, trying to soothe his sore neck. His ribs grind against his skin. _Bed rested Damon? What a sight for sore eyes. I need to get up. I need to kill him. I can't let him do this and get away with it._

He slept a night without any distractions, for the first time in months. He wasn't sure what happened yesterday, when Stefan came to save him. Except the fact that he meant to save Damon, when he just took his doppelgänger.

Damon quickly stands up. It makes him feel a little light-headed because he got up too fast. He soon starts to sway side to side, and then his legs give up on him, and his eyes roll backwards. He comes crashing down, his body slamming against the wooden floorboards.

He flutters his eyes open to find himself back in the cell. _What happened? Where am I?_ Damon crawls to the wall, and sits himself against it. _Oh my god, I'm back in here. How did I get back in here? I escaped. What's going on? What happened to me?_ Damon can hear footsteps coming closer to him. His heart speeds up.

"Hello?" Damon's raspy voice screams out.

Damon holds the wall as he tries to stand up. His knees immediately collapse and Damon falls back onto the dusty floor.

"Vaughn! Get over here and finish me yourself." Damon screams out. If he can get him over there, Damon can kill him, and everything would be over. The footsteps are getting louder. Scattered breaths are everywhere. _There's more than one person?_ The footsteps stop right in front of his door.

"Damon?"

"Elena."

"Damon!"

"You're here."

Elena opens the iron door by breaking the lock. A creak sound comes from the hinges of the door. Damon stares at Elena, helpless.

"Oh my god, Damon. Are you okay?" Elena asks, rushing to his side.

"I am now." Damon gives Elena a weak smile. "I'm… I'm a little tired… right now. Can I… talk to you… later?" Damon slurs out. His eyelids become heavy, like someone has placed weights on his eyelids.

"Damon. No. DON'T CLOSE YOUR EYES DAMON! WAKE UP! DAMON!" Elena cries out, shaking Damon. She clutches her hands, and then her palm makes contact with Damon's face, leaving a light cherry colored hand mark on his pale face. Damon opens his eyes, and stares into Elena's beautiful brown eyes.

"I… I'm sorry… I Love… You." Damon wheezes out, before his eyes close, and his face starts to turn gray.

Elena looks around the room for something sharp. She was not going to let Damon desiccate on her. She runs outside the door to find the lock she broke. She takes the broken lock, and finds a semi-sharp end. She stabs it into her hand, groaning out loud. She grasps her bloody hand, and runs back to Damon. She stuffs her gash into Damon's mouth, forcing him to feed on her. The warm blood trickles into Damon's mouth. His eyes flicker into life.

"Oh my god, Damon. I thought I lost you for a second." Elena says, face full of tears. Her eyes are puffy and red. Damon holds her hand down onto his face, sucking the blood that is dripping out. His eyes are blood red with black holes in the middle, while the veins underneath his eyes are moving like a rapid river. He sits up, and sucks on more of the blood.

"Okay, I think it's enough." Elena cries out, her hand feeling like it's lost senses. Her hand is numb and she can barely move her finger. "Damon, please stop. You're hurting me." Elena begs Damon to stop, but he can't. He can't let go of the delicious tasting liquid. The feeling is overcoming him. He can't stop.

"DAMON STOP! PLEASE!" Elena screams and tries to drag her hand out of Damon's tight grasp. Elena takes her other hand and fumbles around on the ground trying to find the broken lock. Her hand touches the heavy iron, and clenches onto it for dear life. She takes the lock, making sure the pointy side is away from her, and stabs Damon in the arm.

"Ouch!" Damon falls back in pain, holding his arm. He has enough blood to heal the stab. Elena clenches her hand, trying to gain some feeling in it. Her hand is starting to pulse, and it throbs.

"Oh my god, Elena. I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. I didn't mean it, I swear. I couldn't help myself. I'm so sorry." Damon says. His eyes widen at the sight of a hurt Elena.

"Damon, you could've killed me. What is wrong with you!" Elena screams out, tears filling her eyes.

"I'm sorry Elena! I'm so sorry. I don't know what happened, it just overcame me, and I couldn't stop it." Damon screams out, feeling really bad for what happened.

"Stefan managed to stop Klaus's compulsion for a while, and you couldn't control yourself to stop feeding on me?" Elena screams out, angry with Damon.

Damon falls back. _Idiot, idiot, idiot. I'm so stupid. I can't compete with Stefan. This is going to be exactly like how it was with Katherine. No matter how much affection I show for them, they always go running back to Stefan. What am I doing wrong?_

"I'm not Stefan, and I never will be." Damon lowers his voice, glaring at Elena. "So stop comparing me to Stefan, because he and I are two completely different people. I will never be him, and he will never be me." Damon hears a set of footsteps getting louder and louder. It was Vaughn.

* * *

"Damon! Yoo-hoo!" Vaughn says in a singsong tone. He opens the iron door, and Damon vamp speeds to Vaughn, and catches him off guard.

"Get Elena out of here." Damon says, while strangling Vaughn's throat.

"We're j-just going to be c-carrying a corpse out." Vaughn stammers out. Damon lets go of his grasp and turns around. Two huge men are holding Elena up with a knife to her throat. Damon stares in confusion as to how those men got behind him when Vaughn and him were fumbling together in the doorway.

"All it takes is just one word for them to kill her. Follow me, or she dies." Vaughn says, before coughing.

"Okay, fine. But don't you dare hurt her, or I swear I will kill you- all of you." Damon threatens turning back to face Vaughn.

"Should you really be in the position to threaten us? Release her." Vaughn coolly says to the men. They drop her on the floor, her whole body collapsing. The two men walk up to Damon, and tie his hands with vervain ropes. Damon winces at the pain, and starts to fidget his hands around. They push him back into the cylinder shaped room, and chain him back up on the wall. They grin at each other before looking back at the again- helpless Damon.

"Okay, bring her in." Vaughn demands. Two women come into the room, dragging a pale Elena.

"What are you doing? Let her go you bastard! Leave her alone!" Damon screams, banging his chains around, causing a lot of commotion.

"Silence him." Vaughn orders, and as usual, they all obey him. A man walks towards him with a stake, and stabs him right in the torso.

"AAAH!" Damon screams out, shaking. His wound is taking a little longer to heal.

"Let's get to the fun part now. Damon, would you like to play a game?" Vaughn asks a bleeding Damon.

"No." Damon says through gritted teeth. Vaughn walks to Elena, and holds a knife to her cheek.

"Let me ask again. _Would you like to play a game?_ " Vaughn asks, now more persistent. Damon stares at Elena, the person who he would easily die for- no doubt about it. Elena gives him a look- the say-yes-you-idiot-stare.

"Yes." Damon whispers out, staring at the knife held against her cheek.

"Good boy. The rules are simple. One, always listen to me and do what I say. Got it?" Vaughn laughs.

"Yes." Damon murmurs out.

"I'm sorry, what did you say? Can you say that louder for me?" Vaughn mocks.

"Yes!" Damon screams out. Vaughn nods his head in approval.

"Two, don't try to run away. Three, you will always reply back with a 'sir' or 'ma'am' when talking to any one of your captors. Four, always ask before you do. Five, do not disobey any of your captors, including me. Six, don't tell your captors and I what to do. Seven, do not lie to any of us. If you do happen to break ANY of these rules, I will hurt everyone you ever love and care about, and that also includes you. Do you agree to these rules?" Vaughn stares at Damon, his eyes piercing into his soul.

"Yes." Damon mutters under his breath.

 _This is crazy. In no way in hell am I going to agree with these rules. I'm not going to not escape because it's one of his crazy rules._

"You just broke a rule. Two, might I add." Vaughn eerily says to Damon.

"What did I break already?" Damon wearily asks, raising his head up to look at Vaughn.

"Rule number three, always reply back with a 'sir' or a 'ma'am'. Also, rule number seven, you lied to me about agreeing."

"How did you know?" Damon asks. Vaughn frowns at Damon.

"Again, rule number three. Always reply back with a 'sir' or a 'ma'am'. You seem to have not yet put these rules in your mind. Memorize them, because they're going to be the only thing keeping you alive."

Vaughn looks at one of his partners. A tall and buff guy with a long dragon tattoo on his right arm walks up to Damon with a stake, and stabs it near his heart. A female with dyed brown hair and black roots showing walks to a lever. She pulls the lever, and a scratching noise comes from the ceiling.

The window was open, with sunlight gushing into the room. Damon's skin immediately turns red, and starts bleeding and burning. It blisters up, and the only sound you can hear is the sizzling from Damon's skin, and his ear-piercing scream. Fifteen seconds later, the female closes the window. Damon is hanging limp from the chains, his skin taking a long time to heal itself.

* * *

"Bring her in." Demands Vaughn. A new set of captors drags out a drugged Bonnie Bennett. Damon looks at the helpless Bonnie.

"Bonnie?" Damon says, quietly. She starts to move her head side to side, and groans out loud.

"What the hell!" She screams out before scrambling up. The captors hold her arms to prevent her from running away. She sees Damon chained up with his skin bright red with blisters all over.

"Oh my god, Damon? Are you okay?" She asks, fumbling with the captors, trying to run up to Damon. She looks at Vaughn before looking back at Damon.

"Damon? There are two of you? What is going on?"

"This is the result of breaking my rules. Watch carefully." Vaughn breathes out. He takes a knife, and walks up to Bonnie screaming.

"NO STOP! PLEASE STOP! DON'T KILL HER. I WILL FOLLOW YOUR RULES. STOP!" Damon screams out, trying to break the chains to set him free.

"Rule number three, reply with a 'sir' or 'ma'am'. Rule number six, don't tell us what to do. You are on a roll." Vaughn says, his back facing Damon.

"Damon? What are you doing?" Bonnie pleads out, her green eyes starting to tear up.

"Oh, sweet and innocent Bonnie." Vaughn says, now right in front of Bonnie. He holds up his knife, and in one swift movement, cuts Bonnie's throat open.

All of a sudden, it's Damon who's standing in front of a dead Bonnie, and in his hand holds a bloody knife. His hands are all red, and he has splatters of blood all over him.

"Oh my god, Bonnie. BONNIE! WAKE UP. PLEASE WAKE UP! BONNIE!" Damon sobs, falling onto his knees.

Damon wakes up in the middle of the woods, not knowing what happened and how he ended up here. The sky is dark, with the moon glaring down on him. Damon gets up, feeling the blood rushing down to his legs. He can't feel his legs or arms; it is completely numb. He shakes it off, and endures the pain. He walks north, or what seems to be like north, until he notices something furry prowling around. It is a coyote.

"Time to start the Stefan diet." Damon whispers out loud, not knowing exactly whom he's talking to. Stefan… That word seems so close, yet so far away. He feels a sense of home for a split moment. He envisions the living room with the glass of Bourbon on the tray. He runs to the coyote, and in one leap, he catches his prey. He bites into the coyote, missing the taste of blood. It is no human blood, but it's still blood, and he can't complain.

His fangs are covered in red, and his lips tinted. As he licks his lips, he starts to feel like he's suffocating. He starts coughing up blood, and then falls on his knees, dust flying out from underneath his legs. Grasping ahold of his throat, he coughs wildly. He coughs up more blood, and soon he's lying on the woods, face down, wondering to himself what had just happened.

He scrambles to his feet and runs straight. His whole body feels like jelly. His eyes start to blur the setting. He continues running, until he sees a clearing up ahead.

 _Oh my god. It's a clearing. I'm going to escape. I'M GOING TO ESCAPE!_

His eyes brighten as he gathers up the rest of his strength to get out of here, and confront Stefan and Vaughn. He can finally drink some of the Bourbon he is so dearly missing, hug his brother, call Bonnie "Bon-Bon" one more time, roll his eyes at Caroline's fail attempt to make the situation better, rant to Alaric about his feelings for Elena and how unfair the world was, and most of all, just feeling safe in his house.

He gets to the border and is about to cross it, when all of a sudden, he gets an excruciating pain that stings his whole body, and he goes flying backwards, hitting a tree. He falls down, and his world goes black.

Images of him killing Bonnie starts running in his brain.

 _I killed Bonnie. I killed Bonnie. I killed Bonnie. I'm the reason that she died._

And then, his own voice pops up in amidst of all his thoughts.

"I told you already. Rule number two, don't try to run away."

* * *

 **-Screen fades to black- -Vampire Diaries shows on the screen- -That one TVD theme song I can't describe is being played, and on the bottom right hand corner of the screen it says "Next episode playing in 15 seconds"- Yeah, I've been on Netflix way too much. I need to go out and walk around a bit more. Nah, I think I'll stay home and re-watch TVD 20 more times. Thanks for reading guys and I love you all so much and thanks for supporting my story! You have inspired me to write more, and it feels good.** **  
** **-Angela**


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11- Stage One: Denial**

He wakes up to a burning sensation. It feels like a pit of fire is raging in his stomach, and that he is being burned alive. He quickly scrambles to his feet, noticing that he's in the sunlight.

He looks around, dazed. He speeds under a large tree.

 _Did I kill Bonnie? It felt too real to be a dream, and too crazy for it to be real. Is Elena safe? There are so many thoughts running in my head right now, I can't focus on any of them. They seem so distant, so far. I can feel myself slowly walking into the bright light. I need to escape this gloomy place I have built inside my brain. It's eating me, and I can't control it. I can't control it. I open my mouth to try and scream for help, but I don't need help. I never have. They don't care about me. If they did, they would have found me already._

 _Why can't I leave this place? Why am I trapped in here? What did I do? Oh, that's right. I lived. As long as I live, he will continue to torture me. Since I'm being honest here, I'm scared. I'm really scared. I don't know what's going to happen to me, I don't want to. I don't have any will to live anymore. It's consuming me, and I can't stop it. It's blackness suffocating me, and I can't shine a light through it. I'm stuck here between the border of living and dying. I can cross it and end it, or I can continue fighting._

Damon closes his eyes and mutters out something inaudible. He picks up his feet and crosses the border, from the shadows to the sun. He can feel his feet burn even though he's wearing shoes. His eyes are still closed.

 _I can die and no one will miss me. I'm an idiot for going back to Mystic Falls. I'm in idiot for believing that Katherine was still in the tomb. She constantly goes out of her way to screw people over and over again. I'm done with that. Stefan always blabs on and on about how I need help, on how I will break. I don't need him to tell me what's going to happen to myself. I've given up, and I can't do anything. Nothing is going to happen to me, except for me ending my own life. I know what the future holds for me, and I'm going to make that the present._

Damon puts his hands across the shadows and into the sunlight, immediately causing a reaction. He silently curses but keeps it contained in a bottle deep within him. His bottle is starting to get full. It's going to start pouring out like lava if he doesn't let it out. It's going to burn through him, making him break, letting Vaughn succeed. His hand is dark cherry red, bubbling with blisters. The searing noise pierces through his skull. He relaxes his muscles, still holding his hand in the sun, and focuses just on the sizzling noise.

 _I'm not worth the trouble. I can't make it out of this alive. There's no way. What can I do to make this better? I have to listen to the rules if I want them to live. It's the only thing I can do. I have to follow the rules. I can't let Bonnie, Stefan, Elena- or anyone die because of me because I didn't follow a stupid rule._

He leans forward, the sunlight hitting his face first. It burns and stings. His eyes become teary. He can start to feel himself crumble, slowly. One by one, he falls. His brain is the first to stop working. If Stefan was here, he would push Damon back into the shadows, lock him up in the cell, do anything except letting him die. It was expected of Stefan to be the person who saves everyone.

 _Everyone betrays me. No one likes me. I'm useless. I can't live like this. I deserve to burn in hell. It's where I belong. I don't deserve anyone, especially not Elena. She's too good for me. She can finally belong with Stefan once I die; it's one more obstacle out of their way. They're destined to be together anyways. I'm just something they have to trample over. I feel empty inside. Is it because I'm dead? Did I burn to ashes already? I can't feel anything in my body. I'm not controlling my body, someone else is. Someone else, who else could it be other than me?_

Damon steps fully out into the sun, holding his arms up, letting the sun end his life. He's made his decision. It's final. It's too late to change. The world is going to be rid of Damon Salvatore in about 2 seconds. It's his time, to end his life with a bang. Just when he's about to let the sun take him, to breathe his last breath, to have him see the light burning through his skin, he gets brought back into the shadows. Damon, out of breath, his skin still bubbling, slightly opens his eyes, just enough to let him see that he's back under the tree. He sharply moves his head down, his neck burning, trying to look at his arms. He groans out in pain from the piercing pain on his neck.

 _How am I alive? Did I manage to pull myself out? What is going on? Is it because I can't die? Did they do a spell on me so I can't die? Did they think that I was going to end my life? Why is this happening to me?_

All of a sudden, Vaughn is standing in front of him. Damon, surprised, starts immediately backing up, closer to the tree. He ignores the flaming sensation on his skin and his muscles. His wide blue eyes stare straight into Vaughn's blue orbs. Vaughn slowly walks to him and grabs ahold of Damon's neck.

"I don't believe the question you should be asking is why it's happening to you. I believe it should be _what_ is happening to you. I hope after all of this, you become nothing. You're going to feel dead inside. I need you to feel how I have felt for these past few years." Vaughn spits out, releasing his hand from his neck. Damon glares at Vaughn, not knowing if this is reality or if his brain is making it up.

"I won't let you break me." Damon hoarsely speaks out. He knows that it isn't true. His heart tugs at every word he says. He knows that he lost the battle. He knows that he isn't too far from actually breaking. In fact, he probably is already broken; he just doesn't seem to realize it. He already reached stage one: denial.

"I've already done, Damon Salvatore. And also, remember my rules. Bonnie won't live much longer if you don't. Obey them and respect them. They're going to be the only stable thing in your life from now on."

"It was a dream?" Damon whispers out, his voice lowering with every word he speaks. "Bonnie's still alive?"

Vaughn kicks Damon in the stomach, resulting in a low grunt from Damon.

"If you don't follow my rules, she won't be alive much longer. Do you hear me?" Vaughn sternly speaks out, still kicking Damon.

"Yes… Yes… Yes, sir." Damon gives in. Vaughn stops kicking him and merges into the forest setting.

After a while of staring out into the forest with his nerves tense, waiting for Vaughn, his eyes become heavy. His head starts wobbling back and forth, a sharp pain in his neck every time he moves. And then, his lifeless blue eyes close. Damon Salvatore surrenders.

* * *

 **Please review and follow and favorite to get updates! I love you guys so much!  
-Angela**


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N- I didn't put an author's note on the last one. I was busy, and I wanted to release a chapter out. Quick question, should I release them chapter by chapter (where you have to wait for about 4-7 days for a chapter), or should I just write some chapters and post them all out in one day (But you have to wait for a while for me to write them)? I have school now, and with school come a load of homework and studying. School is so stressful, haha. So it might take longer than usual to write and publish chapters. Please let me know!  
Disclaimer- I don't own the TVD characters, but I do own my own characters in this story.**

 **Chapter 12- First Meeting**

He wakes up to a burning sensation. It feels like a pit of fire is raging in his stomach, and that he is being burned alive. His muscles are aching with every movement, and his head is pounding so hard. He can feel blood rushing through his body. His body is pouring out blood. His skin isn't pale anymore; it's red and blistery. He has a burning desire to get up, but he doesn't want to. He knows that it's going to hurt and make his injuries worse. With his luck, it's likely that his already-healed injuries would burst open any time now.

He sits underneath the big tree, providing him a large area for shade. He sits contemplating whether or not he wants to get up.

 _I can just sit here and let my organs shut down and my blood flow to stop. It won't be hard. It's actually easy. I can enjoy my last few moments just looking out into the deep forest. No biggie. But what if Vaughn comes? If Vaughn comes, then I'm definitely toast. I won't be able to outrun or fight against him in my condition. I'm a dead man. There's no way out of this alive._

 _If I'm sitting here, am I wasting my energy or saving it?_

 _There's nothing in this dense forest. Nothing. I can't drink any blood because those bastards raised the acidic level on blood. It tastes like vervain. The red and delicious blood is now tasting as spicy and burning as ever. I'm scared to drink the blood. Wow, Damon Salvatore scared? That's a first. But then at the same time, a vampire getting trapped in a forest with his evil doppelgänger out to get revenge has never happened before, so I guess I can really say that there is a first for everything._

 _There're some patches of grass, can I eat that? Can I be a vegetarian vamp? Is there even such a thing as that? I hear that kids sometimes eat paper, and since paper comes from trees then maybe I can eat the tree. Back then, if kids ate paper they would get slapped so hard that their mouth would feel numb. The paper was precious back in the days. Now people just tear them off as they go. This generation is crazy. There're so many trees here, I probably can't count them. But since I have nothing else to do, why not. There's one with a squirrel crawling up it. I could always just-_

 _One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight... The rules. That's how many rules there are._

He scrambles to his feet and tries to find his way back to the house. His head is blurry and he keeps on thinking of the rules. He trips a couple of times, and he tries to avoid as much sunlight as possible, granted that he still is burning from the contact he had with the sun.

After a minute of vamp speeding through the woods, he gives up, and starts to scan his surroundings. A huge oak tree is to the left of him, and it would provide some shade for about an hour or so. He bends down, putting his hands on his legs, breathing hard. His heartbeat is so loud, it fills the whole forest. He speeds to the tree, and collapses against it. He groans out in pain, and he can feel himself deteriorating. His skin is starting to get cold.

 _Stefan is never going to come. I'm going to desiccate in here without anyone knowing._ Damon feels exhausted. His stomach is grumbling, and falls in a trance, until he hears a rustling noise in the tree above him. He looks up at the shaking tree.

All of a sudden, something jumps down from the tree up above him. A girl. She growls, and her eyes light up in bright yellow. Damon stares at her, his mouth wide open. He's too weak to move. He feels lightheaded and nauseous. He can feel his empty stomach churning something up his throat. He coughs and everything comes exploding out. He feels small and weak, something he has never felt before. He doesn't know what is going on with his body. He's a vampire, not a human. Vampires don't get sick. He throws up some more, and the girl just stands there watching him, showing no signs of disgust or disapproval towards him.

"Who are you?" Damon says, in a whisper-like manner, his throat feeling dry. He starts coughing more, and blood rushes out of his throat. He closes his eyes, tears dripping down. He feels sick and he doesn't like the feeling of throwing up. His mouth tasted bitter and murky. He breathes in and out and lets his heart slow down. He opens his eyes, and sees the woman- now sitting down.

"I'm Seraphina Caverly, who are _you?"_ Seraphina asks, leaning into Damon.

"Damon…" He says out loud, in an unsure way, as if he didn't even know his name. He tugs at his stomach, and crouches together. He holds his head, and rolls around underneath the shade. Sweat beads are starting to form on his blistered face.

"Damon…?" She replies, unsure what is going on. "Are you okay?" Seraphina asks, walking towards the murmuring Damon. In one quick snap, she breaks his neck, and Damon stops moving.

* * *

His terror-filled eyes flutters open, staring at the dark tree high above him.

"What happened?" Damon asks out loud. He looks at the brown haired girl sitting next to him, slowly stroking his hair. "Who are you?" Damon starts to crawl away.

"Seraphina. I'm Seraphina. I already told you, did you forget already?" Seraphina asks, staring at Damon, her brown eyes widening.

"I'm sorry. I really don't know who you are." Damon croaks out. "Where am I?"

"Damon... You're in the forest. You tried to kill yourself, but I saved you in time." Seraphina replies back. Her fingers are intertwining with each other.

"Damon? My name is Damon? Oh right, I am Damon. I'm Damon Salvatore." Damon hisses out. He starts coughing and falls back onto his back.

"Damon Salvatore. What is the last thing that you remember?"

"I'm not sure." Damon grips his head and starts messing with his hair. "I don't know, I don't know." He whimpers out, his hands curl together, in a fist. He starts hitting his head, confused and angry.

"I know that I'm a vampire." Damon says, his eyes brightening up. He sits up, his back against the tree.

"This might be a problem… I'm a werewolf." She said, uneasy. Damon immediately starts crawling backwards. He doesn't know why he's crawling back, or why he's so scared. It's instinct, and he can't do anything about it. He's scared, and it's getting to him.

 _What is going on? Why can't I remember certain parts of my memory? Where am I? What happened to me? Why am I so scared? I hate myself._

"The full moon isn't coming for about four more days. So don't worry, I won't hurt you, I promise." A pause of silence falls upon them.

"So, do you have any siblings?" She asks.

"Yeah, Stefan." His mind is clear as day when it comes to Stefan. He could never forget about Stefan. He doesn't know what happened between them, or he was, but he loves his brother. But another feeling flies into his brain when he thinks about Stefan. It's hatred.

"But I hate him." Damon mutters out in disgust. His brain tells him that he hates him, while his heart tells him otherwise. He's torn.

"Someone's coming to meet you, Damon." Seraphina cheers out. "Let's go to the house. We can talk in there." She says, enthusiastically.

Damon looks down at his fingers. He knows something is missing, but he can't quite put his finger on it. Something is wrong, but he doesn't know what it is. He hesitantly gets up, and stumbles a little. He takes a step, and he immediately falls back down. He pants and breathes hard.

Flashing images of a ring clouds Damon's mind, hammering down his skull. It's like as if 10,000 miniature people crawled inside of his head and started to hammer his skull, trying to crack it. Blood is pouring over the ring images flashing in his mind, and Damon doesn't understand it. His heart is thumping rapidly, and his brain sparks like 4th of July sparklers. There are fireworks in his mind, about to set off and explode. He can't comprehend what is going on inside his head. It's a bunch of weird and twisted images flowing into his brain all at once.

"STOP!" Damon screams out, his voice scaring away the birds. His blue eyes roll backwards, replaced with lifeless and black pupils.

"Damon?" Seraphina cries out, scared. She doesn't know what to do.

"I don't know what's wrong with me. Please help." Damon cries out. His scared and shaky voice rings into the air. His voice doesn't match the black and dead eyes he has.

"You're okay. It's going to be okay." Seraphina coaxes, trying to calm him down. She crawls to Damon, putting her hand on his shoulder. Damon flinches away at the touch of her. His voice is pleading for her to help him, but his eyes say otherwise.

"Don't touch me! I need help, plea-" Damon starts coughing blood up. It stains the dirt, the blood sinking into the ground. He stops coughing and blood is dripping down from the sides of his mouth. "I don't need help. I'm perfectly fine the way I am." The cold Damon speaks out. Seraphina was surprised at the sudden change in his voice. He takes a thick wooden branch near him and stabs it through his stomach. He immediately falls down, his eyelids falling over his eyes.

"DAMON!" Seraphina screams out, scrambling to her knees.

She pulls the stake out, and rubs her hands on his face. She lays his head on her legs, and grabs ahold of his hand.

He's shaking and squeezing her hands. He's scared to let go. He's scared that if he does let go, everything he did would disappear. He would lose, and he can't let that happen. He needs to hold onto her hands. He's slowly sinking into the bottom. If he lets go, he's going to lose everything he has ever accomplished. His hand is starting to sweat, making it clammy. She ignores the uncomfortable feeling of sweat, and continues to let him hold her hand. She doesn't want to let go, but she knows that she eventually will. Vaughn will make her let go, and until then, she's going to hold onto him tight.

"You'll be fine. You're going to be okay."

He can't breathe. He's drowning in his own mind. There are so many empty spaces in his memory; he doesn't know what is real and what's not.

 _This is just a dream._

An image of Vaughn floats into his empty brain.

 _Is that me? Am I the villain in this story? I'm not the victim; I'm the person who caused all of this. I've destroyed Stefan's life. I failed to protect Elena. If I did protect Elena, I would be in that coffin, not her. If I didn't destroy Stefan, he would never have those years worth of guilt from being a ripper. I forced him to become the monster he tried so hard to bury. I dug it up and took it out. It's all my fault. I'm worthless. No one ever loved me. Not even my mother. It was all just an act. I faked my way through hell to get out. Stefan gave up on me, and so did Elena._

Somewhere in his confused mind was a section full of his lost memories. He locked himself out. He needs a key to unlock those memories, but it's like finding a needle in a haystack, if the key was the needle. It is possible; it just takes a lot of time and effort. Something Damon doesn't have. A person can find a needle in a haystack; they just have to be careful not to be stabbed by it. But if you do take the time, that haystack will just be a pool of hay surrounding you, a pool of your mistakes. You have to go through the hay to get to the key. Damon has to go and relive his mistakes to unlock the door. But sometimes memories can leak out. And somewhere in his spaced brain was the rules. They are the rules that he has to obey. He doesn't want to, but he has to comply. It isn't an option.

"Rule one, always listen to me and do what I say. Two, don't try to run away. Three, you will always reply back with a 'sir' or 'ma'am' when talking to any one of your captors. Four always ask before you do. Five, do not disobey any of your captors, including me. Six, don't tell your captors and I what to do. Seven, do not lie to any of us. Don't break them." Seraphina whispers slowly to Damon.

She brings her free hand to his heart, and releases a warm feeling into his cold body. She continues whispering, filling his mind with it. She gives the sleeping Damon a weak smile as she chants, each time increasing the volume.

He immediately starts to cough up blood. Seraphina looks at him like he was a lost puppy. She feels bad. She doesn't want to do it, but she has to pay her debt to Vaughn. She needs to protect her family.

She continues to whisper to Damon the rules, trying to engrave it in his mind. He opens his eyes for a quick second, and they're filled with blood. His mouth is stained with red, with dry blood all around his mouth. His eyes pour out red liquid, and he finally takes the plunge, and lets go of her hands.

* * *

 **Thanks for reading guys, and I really appreciate you reading this! Thanks for sticking with me! I love all of your support, and I really like to read your reviews. It gives me motivation to write more. And this is another long chapter! Just wanted to show my love for all of you guys who are still reading. Review, favorite, and follow this story to get the updates! Let me know if you have any ideas or plot for this story, and I am most likely going to use it, if I find a good place to put it! I'll give you guys credit for the idea! ;) I'm going to go and work on my homework now, and if I finish early I might write some more!  
-angelaapann**


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N- Hi! Back with another chapter! How was your day/night? I'm currently watching Jacksepticeye haha. Do you guys like how dark this story is? Or do you want it to be a little more upbeat and happy? To be honest, I have no idea how to incorporate a happy scene in this haha;)Okay, hope you like this chapter!**

 **Chapter 13- First To Know**

Something is wrong, and Bonnie knows it. Deep down, she knows that something is off about Damon. She needs to put on a good face for Stefan, but she can't. She feels happy that he's back, but she can't help feel the emptiness in her stomach. Damon is lacking something, but she can't put her finger on it. Around him, she used to feel safe and secure, but now, there is nothing.

Damon's acting strange. He's never making those whimsical jokes anymore. He never smirks that much anymore, and he isn't as annoying as before. This would be a good thing for some people, but this is odd to Bonnie. She walks up to the Salvatore Boarding House and opens the door, letting herself in. It's a thing she learned ever since she started coming to their house. Vaughn is sitting down on the couch, drinking his Bourbon. It's all he ever does these weeks- drink.

"Early morning drinking? Something's up." Bonnie says, trying to loosen the air. She relaxes her tense muscles. Vaughn sips his drink.

"Well, Bon-Bon. It's been hard these past few weeks. I'm just trying to drink in peace." Vaughn replies.

Bonnie sits down next to Vaughn and tries to avoid eye contact with him. She places her

"Where's Stefan?"

"Probably with Blondie." He takes another sip.

"Are you and Stefan okay now? He told me what happened, but I was just wondering." Bonnie stares at Vaughn. He stops drinking and places the glass on the table in front of him. He's just about to get up and leave when Bonnie's hand reaches out, pulling him back down.

* * *

Flashing images fog her brain. This has never happened before. Well, actually, it has. It happened when her and Elena were at a party, and for fun they pretended that a beer bottle was a crystal ball. She placed her hand over it, and had a vision of a crow. She didn't want to scare Elena, so she quickly brushed it off, but she knew that something was not right.

Her grip is still tight on Vaughn, and her eyes are sealed shut. Screams enter her brain, visions of Damon screaming and crying shows up, Damon getting tortured, him getting hurt, everything. But something is off about it. Another vision pops into her mind. There were two Damon's. One was crying while the other was laughing maniacally. She wrinkles up her forehead and opens up her eyes.

 _Oh, my god. This isn't Damon. This isn't Damon. I need to go. I need to leave. I need to tell Stefan. Oh, my god._

She quickly rips her hand off of Vaughn and grabs her bag that she placed next to her.

"I have to go." Bonnie almost screams out. She doesn't know what just happened, but it's bad.

"What happened Bonnie?" Vaughn asks, confused. Bonnie quickly rushes out of the house, the bright light almost blinding her, and runs into her car. She dials Stefan's phone, silently pleading that he is going to pick up. Something isn't right.

"Bonnie?" A voice from the other line greets her.

"Stefan, oh my god. I need to talk to you about something that happened." Bonnie cries out. She could never forget what just happened. Her heart tugs with every word she says. She can't shake off the feeling, but it was something evil.

"What? What happened?" Stefan asks, his voice rushed.

"I'll tell you. Where are you?" Bonnie whispers into the phone.

"I'm at Caroline's. Meet me here."

"I'll be there in 5 minutes," Bonnie says, her fingers fumbling with the phone. Her hands are shaking, and she ends the call. Just as she is about to reverse the car to back out, someone is blocking her way. Her foot rushes to the brake, and her tires make a screeching sound.

"OH MY GOD." She blurts out, her heart skipping a beat. She looks back, and a huge shattering comes from her drivers' window. She turns back around, and then a blunt object makes contact with her head. It sends a shock of electricity through her brain, and she slumps down, hitting her head on the steering wheel.

* * *

She wakes up in a dull room. She is tied to a chair, and the rope digs into her skin. She looks around, steadying her head. She grunts out trying to wriggle herself out of the rope. A black camera is placed on a tripod in the corner of the room. A red light is flashing on the camera. Bonnie glares into the camera, and continues to try and loosen up the ropes. Her wavy black hair bounces around as she tugs on the ropes. Her hands are tied together, and her feet. They tied her legs to the chair and she can already imagine the purple and red tint her skin is going to have around the ropes.

"That's not going to help," Vaughn says. He unlocks the door and walks in smiling.

"Damon?" Bonnie whimpers out.

"Ooh, so close." Vaughn taunts.

"Who are you?" Bonnie spits out.

"I'm Damon's doppelgänger."

"Damon has a doppelgänger?" Bonnie cries out. She should've known before. They would never give up Damon that easily. It was his plan all along.

"That's me. Although there's going to only be one of me, because Damon won't be alive much longer. How terribly sad is that?" Vaughn teases.

"Where is Damon?" Bonnie screams out loud, fuming with anger. Vaughn vamp speeds in front of Bonnie.

"He's currently suffering." Vaughn smiles. "But you won't tell anyone."

"And why would I do that?" Bonnie says, jerking her face closer to Vaughn's.

"Because, Bonnie Bennett. I have accomplices, and they work for me. They look up to me. I have many of them too. If Stefan or anyone finds out I'm not Damon, my team can go and kill Damon. Now, you wouldn't want that happening, do you? And don't think there's a loophole out of this. Not everything has a loophole. If you guys try and kill me, my accomplices will know about it, and they will kill Damon." Vaughn threatens.

"So, I'm going to go now. I have to go and visit my look-a-like. It's going to be a long day." Vaughn smirks. "Oh, and by the way, did you know that Damon thought he killed you? What an idiot, am I right? He was all like 'Oh no, I killed Bonnie. What am I going to do.' It was hysterical to watch him. He's crazy." Vaughn laughs out.

"Don't touch him, or I swear I will kill you," Bonnie screams out.

Vaughn slaps Bonnie in the face, leaving a red hand mark on her face. He pulls out a pocket knife and makes a long cut on her left cheek. The searing pain causes her to scream.

"AAH!" Bonnie screams out. She tries to scream out a spell but the burning sensation on her face prevents her to.

"You won't be able to use your magic here. I've used a herb in this cell, so you won't be able to mess with me. I'm prepared, unlike Damon. He's going to have a hard time today." Vaughn gives a little snicker before taking out a small jar. He puts it below the stream of blood pouring down from the cut. It flows into the jar like a river.

Red, ruby blood drips out from the big gash. Bonnie is in tears, her eyes swelling up. Her green eyes reflect the small lightbulb in the cell. She winces in pain, and her face is full of remorse. She should've known that it wasn't Damon. She should've found out sooner. She should've told Stefan. It was her fault, and now Damon would be in even more danger.

He takes the pocket knife and makes another cut underneath the gash. New blood pours out, filling the clear jar. Bonnie stares at the jar filling up, almost to the brim. He takes the jar, careful to keep his balance to keep it from spilling. He whips out the cap and gently places it on. Her face is now throbbing, and most likely swollen and infected.

"Once I'm out of here, I will personally kill you because no one hurts my friends and gets away with it."

"Oh, but I already did. And if you did hurt me, your poor little Damon dies with me. It kind of sucks doesn't it." Vaughn gives Bonnie a large smile and walks to the corner. He whispers something but Bonnie can't comprehend what he said.

"What did you say?" Bonnie asks, expecting a witty response. But she didn't get any answer.

He picks up the camera and the tripod and leaves the cell, leaving the door open.

"WHAT DID YOU SAY?" Bonnie screams out, her shouts drowning out from her sobbing.

* * *

 **Well... You finished this chapter! How was it? Please let me know! Write reviews, they make me super ecstatic! I love all of you guys, thanks for reading! Favorite, and follow me to get updates!  
** **-Angela**


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N- Hey! I took a test and I'm pretty sure I failed it. Ugh. I really hope that I did well on it because I can't get a grade lower than like a B on it. I'm updating this story while doing my homework. That shows my dedication to this story haha. Anyways, I hope you like this chapter!  
Disclaimer- I don't own TVD or the characters unless they're my original characters. And I didn't realize this but there was a Vaughn in TVD! Just so you know, there is no correlation between those two characters, it's merely just a coincidence.**

 **I totally forgot about doing this for the past few chapters! But thank you soo much ShiningStar324 for reviewing, as usual! I love your support! And maayan21051 for giving me awesome advice and your continuous support of this story! I'm so grateful! And Extacy925 for reviewing! I'm glad you like this story! Although, I wouldn't exactly consider her "taken" by Vaughn. You'll find out in the next chapter which hopefully won't take long to post because I'm a procrastinator. ;)**

 **Chapter 14- Dakota Appears**

"Damon! Hey, Damon!" Seraphine whispers. "Wake up! Damon, Wake up!" She slaps his face. Damon awakens and slowly opens his eyelids. His eyes were empty- no emotion no nothing. It was just blank.

"What?" He says, his voice softening.

"I heard something in the forest. I'm scared." She whispers, nudging Damon.

"You'll be okay."

"No, I won't. I'm going to go and see what it's about. I can't sleep like this." She says before trudging away. Damon groans as he sits against the tree. The moonlight is dim and the sky is smothered in clouds.

He wants to tell Seraphina not to go, but words weren't coming out. He feels hopeless. He doesn't care if he gets saved or not. They probably gave up searching anyways. All of a sudden, a voice- sounding like Seraphina's- lets out an ear-piercing scream.

Damon's eyes are alert and he tries to stand up. He stands but then he falls, his face right into the dirt. His face is now streaked with blood and dirt. He props himself up using his hand and sits on his legs. He needs to go and save Seraphina. He needs to go, no matter how much it hurts. He's her only friend in this big and empty world. He inhales in the fresh air and puffs it out. He steadies his nerves and starts crawling.

 _Left. Right. Left. Right. Left. Right. I need to keep going. COME ON DAMON! CAN'T YOU DO ANYTHING RIGHT? Hurry up. You need to save her. You need to make sure she's okay. Go faster. Go faster. GO FASTER!_

Damon crawls into the dark eerie set of trees ahead of him. Dirt is getting in his fingernails. He groans at the pain of moving, but like a soldier, he continues going. His hands are freezing despite the fact that it's the middle of summer.

He crawls for what seemed like an eternity until he senses blood.

He feels himself crawling faster. The blood lures him into a secluded section. It's a circle, outlined by trees. Standing in the middle is Dakota, holding a knife to Seraphina's neck. His eyes are big and he can feel his stomach turning in knots. He sees the distraught look on Sera's face.

* * *

"Stop." Damon managed to scrape out. Sera's face is dry with tears. Her eyes are all puffy and red, and her tears are escaping from her eyes.

"Hello, Damon."

"Who are you?"

"You have to remember."

"Remember what?"

"Unlock it. Take the key and unlock it."

"I don't know what you're saying."

"Remember, or I will kill her."

"Please don't kill her."

"Who is she to you?"

"She's… She's my friend." Damon stumbles out. He can feel the tears starting to swell up in his eyes. Dakota brings the knife closer to her neck.

"Okay, I'll remember. I just don't know what to remember." Damon pleads.

"Where you are, why you're here… Anything." Dakota says.

"I don't know. I really don't know." Damon replies back.

 _I don't know what she's talking about. I really don't. I don't know what memories she wants me to remember. How does one remember something if they don't remember it? But I can't let Sera die. I can't let one more person die because of me. I need to stop this woman. In order to stop her, I have to remember. I'm so confused; I can't comprehend what's going on. This all seems like a blur, a daze. If I pinch myself, I'll wake up in my bed. I'll wake up in my clean and soft bed, my warm and cozy room; walk downstairs and see Stefan swallowing Elena's face in the living room. Elena? Is that Elena? I think I see Elena. Why is she here? Does Stefan know nothing about protecting her? It included her not wandering off into the middle of a forest. Idiot._

Damon squints to get a better view of the brunette in the forest.

"Elena?" Damon says out, stunned.

"What?" Dakota whips around, still having Sera clutched tightly in her arm.

"Is that you?" Damon says, his instinct is to immediately walk forward. Seraphine is still crying, but the Elena-like figure distracts everyone's attention from her. Damon walks out of the enclosed area and finds himself in front of Elena.

"Damon! You're here!" Elena says, smiling brightly. She kneels down and picks up a daisy.

"Of course. Why are you here?" Damon says, staring at the brightly flourished flower she's holding in her hand.

"I was looking for you!" She looks up from the flower and bores her eyes into Damon's.

"Shouldn't you be with Stefan?" Damon asks, confused with everything.

"I thought you knew," Elena replies, her face immediately dropping.

"Know what? What did I know?"

"Stefan and I broke up," Elena says, her eyes glancing down at the dirt.

"I'm sorry," Damon says. He puts on a saddened face, but his heart was prancing around, for what reason, he doesn't know.

"I'm with you right now," Elena says matter-of-factly.

"What?" Damon replies stunned.

"You're my boyfriend, silly." Elena nudges him playfully.

"Since when?"

"Since Stefan and I broke up… Which was a year or two ago? Are you feeling okay?"

"Yeah, yeah. I'm feeling fine. Just a little confused- that's all. But uh are you sure that we're dating?" Damon asks.

"Yes, of course! But I wanted to talk to you about our relationship…" The whole world silenced, and everything was muted except for Elena's beating heart. They're like bells ringing in Damon's ears. "I think we should break up." Elena blurts.

Damon's stomach falls, and his heart stops beating for a minute. He turns pale, and he can feel himself scattering his breath.

"Wh-what?"

"I'm sorry but I can't do this anymore." Elena's eyes are tearing up.

"Just remember Vaughn and the rules. Listen to them, okay?" She has red blotches all over her face, and she starts running away. Damon just stands there, his legs like noodles. He can't carry his weight anymore and so he falls. The world comes crashing around him and soon he realizes he's back in front of Dakota and Sera.

* * *

"Damon! Please wake up!" Screams Sera. She's crying and her face is stained with dry tears. Damon flutters his eyes open and looks up.

"Vaughn? I remember Vaughn and something about rules." Damon says, his brain fumbling in his skull.

"Recite the rules, and then I'll let her go. I promise." Dakota says, the evil glint in her eye shrinking.

"Uh. I'm not sure." He hates himself right now. He can't give her a straight answer.

"You know it. It's not hard."

"Rule one… Listen to Vaughn?" Damon says cautiously. He gets a nod of approval from Dakota.

"Two, don't run away. Three reply back with a 'sir' or 'ma'am'. Four…" Damon thinks hard. He doesn't want to let everyone down. Dakota clenches the knife and digs it a little in her skin.

"AAAAH! OH MY GOD!" Sera shrieks.

"Four, ask before I do anything. Five, don't disobey my captors? How am I remembering this?" Damon pauses to think, but the small amount of blood racing down her neck is distracting him. The veins underneath his eyes pop up, and his eyes turn red. His fangs appear, and he's growling.

"Control yourself. Do you want her to die? It'll all be your fault." Dakota says, trying to convince him that she isn't food.

"I need blood." Damon urges. Every bone in his body tells him to move and drink out of the running faucet, but he can't. If he did, he wouldn't know what to do.

"And you will get them. Just behave and you will get a reward. So control yourself."

Damon adjusts himself and looks away from the faint Sera. His veins die down and he finally looks back up again.

"Continue please."

"Six is not telling you guys what to do. Seven is not lying. If I break it, I'll receive a consequence." Damon finishes.

"Not only you, but the people closest to you will suffer as well, so you better watch that mouth of yours," Dakota warns.

"Yes, ma'am," Damon replies back, robotically. His voice didn't hold the attitude it had before. Dakota releases the knife from Sera's throat and she plops down. Damon rushes to her, not caring about his screaming muscles. He sees her sweet and innocent face.

"I'm sorry. It was my entire fault. I'll do anything to protect you, I swear." Damon whispers. He sits down and starts to cry. His eye's becoming watery, and his heart becomes heavy with guilt and sorrow. He lets it all out and starts crying in his hands. He wipes away his tears but more comes streaming through on his face. He can't control himself. What he needs right now is just some love and protection, but he can't get any of that in his current state.

He slowly recites the rules under his breath. He lies down on the grass and whispers himself to sleep, but Elena keeps popping up in his thought. Tears swell up in his eyes. One slides down from his cheeks, creating a trail on his face, and plops into the dirt underneath him.

 _Now I really have no one._

* * *

 **Aah! Okay! So, he's finally broken! We can finally move on with the story now haha. Have I been dragging this story on for too long? Or do you like this? Haha. I might not update for the rest of the week because I have a social studies test that I have to ace, and loads and loads of homework to do. The struggle is real. I'll definitely try and post more often next week, but don't count me to it! Anyways, please review this chapter! Constructive criticism would be appreciated too! Favorite and follow this story for updates! I love all of you guys, you're the best!  
** **-Angela**


	15. Chapter 15

**A/N- I'm sorry! I posted this chapter without editing it a little bit, so I fixed some mistakes I made. Thanks to StilesSmiles2.0 for reviewing! I'm glad that you like this story haha. Sorry for the inconvenience. I'm currently writing chapter 16, so if I get that finished I'll post it soon. Thanks for all of you guys who followed, favorited, or reviewed! I love all of your support for this story!**

 **Chapter 15- Are You Okay?**

Bonnie looks around the room, trying to see if there is something she can use to cut the ropes binding her hands together. Her green eyes flutter around the room in frenzy. Her hands are feeling sore and numb. It pains to move her hands around.

She tries to stand up, to get her blood moving around. She doesn't know how long it's been since Damon's doppelgänger basically kidnapped her. He didn't even tell her his name. What a gentleman.

She lets out a breath and rises up, carefully moving her arms back to get them up and over the chair. She smiles to herself knowing that her cheerleading days weren't for nothing. She sits back down on the chair and hopes that her flexibility didn't decrease since high school. She brings her tied up hands from her back to underneath her legs so she is sitting on it. Her perfectly manicured nails would surely get scratched from this. She raises her legs and struggles to put her long legs through her arms. She fumbles around and manages to get one leg through. She stabilizes herself with the free leg. Her mind swirls with ideas of where Damon is. Her best friend is somewhere lost and possibly dying. She silently curses at herself. Her leg finally comes through the hole that her arm made.

Now, her hands are in front of her rather than being behind her. She bends down and starts to untie the knot that was made to bind her feet together. She unties it and stretches her legs out, rotating her feet. She establishes the fact that there isn't anything accompanying her in the room, so she ventures outside of the room.

Bonnie glances around the unfamiliar setting. She sees the long corridor ahead of her, wine surrounding her. She picks a bottle of Chardonnay off of the wine rack and smashes it onto the concrete floor. She giggles a little at how fun that was. She can feel her anger diminishing when she threw the bottle. Sharp pieces of glass explode everywhere and a strong scent of wine sneaks up into her nose. The fruity wine travels down the corridor.

She leans down and picks up a reasonable sized piece of glass. The sharp glass reflects the dim light bulb above her. Her reflection shows on the glass. She stares at it for a second, taking in the features of her face. Dry blood smears half of her face, and her lips are dry and cracking. The reflection of her distraught face surprises her a little. Her facial expression makes her look scared and fragile, but her eyes are like flames bursting in a desert, they're telling a different story. She can't believe herself.

 _How did I end up in this situation? Was it because of Elena? No, it can't be. If Elena never met Stefan, this would never happen. So this is technically Stefan's fault. But at the same time, if she never met Stefan, I would never have met Damon. He's the one person I've been there and back through hell with. Literally. It's safe to say that we're friends. But how did I manage to befriend Damon Salvatore? If I met a guy like him I would burst him into flames, but why did I not do that to Damon? I don't know why but he mesmerizes me. He makes me feel happy and he makes me forget all of the worries in my life. Do I like him? Sure. But do I love him? That's a different story._

Bonnie grasps the sharp glass and jabs it through the multiple layered ropes. She starts sawing a piece of rope. The glass cuts her palm, and a little bit of blood oozes out from her hand. All of a sudden, she can feel her head pounding. It's throbbing on her left side, the side where Vaughn hit her. She stops cutting the rope and starts to hold her head. She squats down, dropping the piece of glass. The pain is pulsing in her head. Bonnie cringes and plops down. She lets out a soft grunt. She releases the hand that was holding onto her head, and she can see blood dripping down.

She scrambles up, feeling imbalanced. She runs as fast as she can down the long corridor, her hands still bound together. She needs to get out of there and find Stefan as soon as possible. A large iron door is at the end of the corridor, and Bonnie pulls on the lever, opening the heavy door. She breathes heavily while looking at the stairs that lead up to a door. She climbs the stairs one by one, careful to not put any pressure on her palm with the cut on it. She takes her good hand and opens the door.

The sun and grass welcome her. She takes in the sunlight and feels her spirits being lifted. She gives the sun a little smile before immediately dropping it. She has no idea where she is. She looks ahead and sees a red basket lying on the green grass. She runs to the basket, her head still throbbing. She reaches the basket, and inside lays a handwritten note and her phone. She picks up the note- her hands still bound together and reads it.

 **Bonnie-**

 **Congratulations! You got out! Here's your phone. Call Stefan to pick you up or something, the address is 3001 Wooder Rd. But remember- you can't tell them or else Damon suffers the consequences. Someone you trust dearly could be working for me. Don't tell anyone.**

 **Love,**

 **Vaughn**

Bonnie takes the note and carefully folds it up before ripping it into shreds. She puts her tied up hands in the air and opens her palms. The little pieces fly out of her hands and fly away, like snow. She lets the wind decide where to carry the note. She hurries and grabs the phone and turns it on. 6 missed calls from Stefan, and 8 from Caroline. Bonnie quickly goes to her recent and finds Stefan's name on the top. The call rings twice before Stefan's frantic voice pops up.

"Bonnie! Where were you? I called you so many times, but you didn't answer! You had Caroline and I worried sick."

"Oh, my god! Is that Bonnie?" Caroline's high pitched voice chirps in the background.

"Stefan." Bonnie's voice cracks. "Please pick me up." Her voice sounds so distressed and tired. He can feel the strain in her voice. Her cheeks are numb and she can barely talk clearly. Stefan pauses a little, to understand what Bonnie's saying.

"Where are you?" Stefan asks. Bonnie can hear keys jingling on the other side of the phone. A wave of relief crashes on her.

"3001 Wooder Rd." Bonnie chokes out.

"On my way. Stay with me Bonnie."

"Okay," Bonnie mumbles out. Her voice has a tone of uncertainty. She starts to see white in her vision, and it starts getting hot. She wipes away a bead of sweat on her forehead.

"Hey, Stefan?" Bonnie calls out into the phone. The phone looks so far away, even though she's holding right in front of her face. she has to squint to see the Caller ID.

"Yeah?"

"Please hurry," Bonnie whispers through the phone. A white flash appears as she falls down on the grass.

"Bonnie? Bonnie! BONNIE!" Caroline starts screaming through the phone.

* * *

Bonnie's body lies straight ahead of Stefan and Caroline. He vampire speeds with Caroline to her side.

"I can't feel a pulse," Caroline says, holding her hands against her wrist.

"I can't hear a heartbeat," Stefan says, breaking the news.

"No. No. This can't be happening." Caroline sobs out, her face blotching with red. She starts crying, tears falling down her face.

"Bonnie! Please don't leave me." Caroline cries. She takes a bite into her wrist and places it inside her mouth.

"It's too late. We're too late." Stefan cries out, his eyes starting to get teary as well.

"I'm so sorry Bonnie. I'm so sorry." Caroline cries out, her voice cracking. Stefan gently picks up Bonnie and carries her into the car, laying her down on the backseat.

* * *

 **BAM! That's the end of this story. Thanks for reading. See you later in another one of my stories.**

 **Just kidding ;) I won't ever stop without telling you guys. But I'm not planning on quitting this story. Watch out for more chapters!  
-Angela**


	16. Chapter 16

**A/N- I'M SO SORRY! I've been super busy with school lately, and ugh, I totally forgot about this haha. I'm sooo sorry! I'm writing chapter 17 and it's taking longer than usual. It's the weekend, but I'm busy this whole week so I don't know if I'll have time. I'll update as soon as I'm one with chapter 17! Excuses, excuses, I know, and I'm actually really sorry! I love all of you guys so much!**

 **Chapter 16- Hello, Damon**

Her eyes slowly peel open. Her throat is dry and has a burning sensation for a liquid. Her head isn't hurting and her cheeks are all healed up.

 _What happened? Am I dead? I thought for sure that I died. Where am I? Why is everything black? Oh, my god. Am I still in the cell? I can't breathe. Why can't I breathe! I feel like the wall is coming closer. I feel so empty. I can start to feel my fingers. They're tingling. But I'm so cold. It's freezing. I'm shivering, but I can't seem to warm myself up no matter how many times I burrito myself in my comforter._

 _I feel so lost and alone. My eyes are open, but why can't I see anything? At least I think they're open. What if I was actually dead but since the other side is gone, nature had to balance itself again so they created another, other-side? Am I overthinking this? Why can't I feel my toes? Oh, wait. I can feel them now. They're so numb and stiff. Oh, my god. Where is Damon? No, wait- Damon's doppelgänger? I never knew he had one. This is so crazy. So if Damon's doppelgänger is here, then that must mean that-_

"Bonnie!" A gleeful voice shouts right next to Bonnie, noticing her movements. "Bonnie, are you awake?" The same voice drops down to a level of concern. She opens her eyes and realizes that she's in her own room. The familiar furniture welcomes her with open arms. Bonnie blinks a couple of times before realizing that she is indeed alive.

"What happened?" She whispers out.

"I don't know. I was hoping you could tell me." Caroline says, visibly frowning at her.

She reaches her hand out to comfort Bonnie, but she flinches away.

"Bonnie? Are you okay? Tell me what happened, please." Caroline says, her voice full of worry and concern. She gives Bonnie a sad look.

 _Damon's twin kidnapped me. He kidnapped me and tied me up. He cut my cheeks and threatened me. I was so scared, and I felt powerless._

"I don't know what happened." Bonnie lies.

Caroline scowls at Bonnie. She has to stay quiet, for Damon. She can't afford to take the risk of telling them.

 _If anything, Caroline could be working for Damon's look-a-like. No that's crazy; Caroline would not switch sides like that. She's my best friend; she wouldn't turn her back on me. I can't take any more of this anymore. It's just too much. I need to find him again. I need to see the real Damon._ Bonnie swallows down a lump.

"I fed you some of my blood. You were dying and I was so worried." Caroline says, her eyes tearing up, but her lips curve into a smile.

Caroline looked terrible. Blood stained her clothes and her usual perfect golden curls are messed up and frizzy. Caroline quickly reaches over her nightstand to take the glass of water. She holds it out for Bonnie to take. She tilts it down her mouth, and the water rushes down her throat. Bonnie closes her eyes and relishes the taste and feeling of water down her dry throat.

"Ugh water. I needed it, thanks." Bonnie gushes out. She looks around and realizes that something was missing. "Where's Stefan?"

"I think he's with Damon. But he promises to be here soon, I texted him already." Caroline says while wavering her phone in the air giving her a cheeky smile.

"What? Damon?" Bonnie says, her eyes immediately turning more alert. Caroline can hear Bonnie's heart rate speed up.

"Yeah… Why are you getting so tense all of a sudden?" Caroline says, completely oblivious.

"I-I have to go," Bonnie says, almost throwing the comforter off of her bed. She hurries out of her bed, pushing Caroline out of her way.

"Bonnie! Where are you going? What are you doing?" Caroline yells out, confused. She follows Bonnie down the stairs.

"I have to find Stefan. I have to find the real Damon." Bonnie screams out. She opens the door. She walks out, leaving a gaping Caroline at the doorway. She runs outside, and suddenly realizing that she just put Damon's life at risk.

"Oh, my god. No." Bonnie cries out. Caroline speeds in front of Bonnie demanding an answer from her.

"What do you mean by 'the real Damon'? What are you not telling me?" Caroline screams at her best friend. She gives Bonnie the I'm-Not-Stupid-So-Tell-Me-What's-Going-On look that she has mastered all too well.

"Okay, okay. I'll tell you but you have to promise not to tell anyone." Bonnie says in a hushed manner, giving into Caroline. She directs Caroline back inside the house, locking the door behind her.

* * *

Damon sits under a large oak tree, staring out into oblivion. He's sitting underneath the tree, not because he wants to, but simply because it's the only thing he can do. Sweat is slowly dripping down his face, stinging all the minor cuts he has on his face.

Sera is sleeping at his feet. Her black shoulder length hair shines in the shade, and her brown- almost black colored eyes smile even when she's sleeping. Her breathing is so soft and peaceful. Damon feels calm and relaxed just by looking at her.

He squirms in his spot, wanting to get comfortable, but if he does, his whole body is going to ache and he can't go through that pain. This is the only time in what seemed like forever where he didn't feel any pain or any headaches. A slight breeze wafts through, circulating the air. He sits there, with the breeze hurdling through his hair, sweeping away and lone strands of sweat he has on his face. The temperature was hot, and it was not the kind of weather where you would want to sit outside in.

Sera has convinced him numerous amount of times to go back to the "cabin" as she called it, but Damon could never pick himself up. It was also an excuse for not wanting to go back to the very place he got tortured in. He would much rather be in a large forest where you can stroll around anywhere, rather than a confined building. And they are so deep into the forest that even they themselves have no idea where they are in the endless forest.

He closes his eyes and imagines a time where Stefan and him were happy, a time where vampirism wasn't introduced into their lives, a time where Katherine was never there so the brothers didn't have anything to argue about, a time where their only worry was what their father was going to do to them next.

He opens his eyes, having to adjust the brightness. He looks at the grass patch Sera is sleeping on top of. _Isn't she quite the luxurious person?_ He mentally chuckles. He looks up at the trees, but not before noticing a silver item on Sera. He looks in her jeans and sees a gray phone peeping out of her pockets.

 _Wait- is that a phone? That's a phone. Oh, my god, that's a phone. I can call Stefan and tell him to get me. This is finally my chance to leave._

 _I can't though. I can't run away. It's a rule. Every bone and muscle in my body are screaming at me to snatch it and call Stefan. But I can't. I just can't. I can't. I'll be breaking a rule. I can't. It's overpowering me. I can't no matter how hard I'm telling myself to do it. I ease myself a little, and convince the devil popping up to not take it._

 _Not taking it is the right thing to do._

 _I won't get in trouble by Vaughn if I don't take it._

"I'm going to go walk around a bit. My legs are so sore. You'll be okay here alone for about an hour, is that alright?" Sera asks. Damon, now staring at an empty patch of grass from where Sera originally was sleeping on. He gives her a slight nod, and she turns around and walks away. He didn't see her get up, which was odd. He always had keen eyesight and he was always on his toes about stuff, very alert. It's hard to not see a human being stand up, although Sera barely is a human, more like a werewolf. He huffs out, exhausted at doing absolutely nothing.

Damon closes his eyes and starts to sleep.

A whistling sound wakes Damon up from his sleep. He opens his eyes and stares straight into a mirror image of himself.

"Hello, Damon. How's life treating you?" Vaughn says.

"Who are you?" Damon asks. He's surprised that there's someone that looks exactly like him, standing right in front of him. He doesn't find that his double is much of a threat. He doesn't sense anything wrong or off about him.

"Dakota told me that this happened." He says, belting out a laugh. "You stored all the bad memories away in a locked box, didn't you? It's called self-induced amnesia. Tell me, how did you do it?" Vaughn taunts.

He comes closer to Damon. He puts his hand on Damon's shoulders, and Damon scrambles to get away with him. He feels lightheaded, and he feels the blood inside of him scratching at his veins. Damon just shrugs.

"Any who, I brought you a little something," Vaughn says. He opens a drawstring bag and takes a blood bag out.

The red liquid swishes inside of the bag, making Damon's heart leap. He immediately has black veins popping up underneath his eyes, and his fangs were extended. He feels himself leaping in the air to grab the bag, but gravity pulls things down, and that includes vampires.

Damon groans out as he face plants right into the dirt. He can hear Vaughn laughing at Damon. This brings total déjà vu to Damon; back when he threatened to drink Elena dry to Stefan, and Stefan's butt hurt self-came hurtling at Damon through the windows. Except now, the circumstance has changed. He's basically Stefan and his doppelgänger is Damon.

"Nuh-uh-uh. Not so fast, Salvatore. You need to earn this." Vaughn pronounces.

"Earn it? What am I, a dog?" Damon angrily replies back. He's craving blood, he needs it to live, and it's been too long since he had a sip of blood.

"More or less." Vaughn jokes wittingly. "Now, dog, kneel down to me."

Damon stands there hesitantly. He glares at Vaughn, giving him the stink eye. Vaughn notices how Damon wasn't obeying and ripped open the bag. The plastic sound tugs at Damon's ears. He started pouring some slowly into the ground, wasting the precious liquid. Damon's heart falls with the liquid. He stares at the small puddle of sticky red juice on the dirt. Somehow, his legs gave out and collapsed. He was kneeling to Vaughn. He quickly holds the bag upright again, smiling at how obedient he was.

"Do you really want it?" Vaughn teases.

"Yeah." Damon numbly says.

"Sorry, what did you say?"

"Yes, sir." Damon mumbled out embarrassed that he has to do this.

His pride is starting to diminish. Vaughn could tell that he was starting to break down the walls Damon has formed. Before he would be disobedient and defiant, but now he's more discouraged and broken. Something Vaughn has wanted Damon to be ever since he kidnapped him. The more vulnerable Damon is- the more Vaughn thinks of how he was a dispirited kid when he was little.

"You obey Dakota and I or else I'm going to kill Stefan and cloak Elena." Vaughn threatens.

"Yes, sir." Damon gives in. He can't let Stefan get hurt.

"Good. Drink up." Vaughn says, throwing the blood bag at Damon.

His reflexes have slowed down, but not slow enough to miss the bag. He holds the bag, his fangs extending and black veins pop up from underneath his eyes. He squeezes the blood into his mouth, the blood rushing against his throat, rushing down. It's like fireworks in his stomach. He feels strong again. He feels great. A huge weight lifts off of his shoulders. He feels his body starting to function again, his heart beating, and his blood pumping. He feels like a whole different person.

"What do you say?"

"Thank you, sir," Damon says, almost like as if he was compelled.

"Good. Now," Vaughn walks closer to Damon, holding his chin up to face him. "You are going to remember every single thing we did to you. I'm sick of you feeling completely oblivious. You are going to listen to us, and you are going to comply. If you don't, I will make sure of it that you never get back to Stefan and that you never see Elena again. I will make sure that you rot in here. You either comply or you don't. Your choice." Vaughn says, his pupils constricting.

In reply, Damon's eyes dilate as he scrambles to get up on his feet. He feels the need to worship Vaughn, for whatever reason. He can feel himself getting stronger when he stands up. Vaughn stares at him, waiting for an answer.

"I will comply, sir," Damon says, almost robotically. Vaughn gives him one sterner look before he breaks out in a smile.

"Good! Now, I have to go. Listen to your little friend." Vaughn says before whistling away.

 _God dammit. Vaughn is getting better and better at pretending to be me. This is bad, right? But some reason, a little piece of me just doesn't care. I feel safe here. It's night already. Time sure has passed by. I haven't been keeping track of time or days for that matter. How long have I even been held captive for? All I know is that it's been way too long. But even if they come now, it's too late. I can't be saved. I don't need help. I'm too far-gone for them to pull me back up. I'm a mistake, a screw-up, as some people would say. The moon's up, bright and beaming. It's a big full moon tonight._

 _Wait._

 _It's the full moon._

 _Seraphina Caverly._

 _She's a wolf._

 _Oh, my god._

 _Where is she?_

 _I should be more worried. I want to get up and run. Run away, run as far as I can possibly go. But I can't. I'm exhausted, even though I just drank blood. What is this, a side effect? I want to just stay here and sleep. I won't take long- it'll just be a little nap, that's all. And once I wake up, I'll be as fresh as a daisy. I can feel my body resting, but my mind is all over the place._

 _But I'm so tired…_

 ** _You know the drill! Please review, and favorite or follow this story to get updates! I love you all so much, and thanks for reading. You're the best!  
-Angela_**


	17. Chapter 17

**A/N- I'm so sorry. I can't find the time to write stories because I have to study! Grades are my priority and I'm super sorry that I haven't updated! I'll do my best, but school is really taking its toll on me. I've also been having some friend problems and I have a test every week! It's hard to keep up, but I promise to do my best. Love you all, and thank you so much for bearing with me.  
** **Thank you so much to Guest for reviewing! Maayan21051 and ShiningStar324 for always reviewing my chapters! You guys are on a roll haha. And thanks to Kenzi Winchester, thank you so much for liking this story! Love you guys, you're all the best!**

 **Chapter 17- Werewolf Venom**

"I need Stefan here." Her green eyes dart around the dark living room. The curtains are drawn, and the door is locked. She barricaded herself inside her own home. To take extra precautions, she turns on all the faucets and all the electronics to drown out sounds, making the lurking vampires nearby have a harder time to focus on their conversation.

"One step ahead of you." The blonde vampire flashes the witch a cheeky smile that said 'Sorry not sorry'. As if on cue, a hard knock comes from the front door. Bonnie flashes Caroline a worried glance, as she sneaks to the window. A male, with light brown hair that was gelled up, stands before the door. She lets out a sigh, as she unlocks the door.

"Stefan," Bonnie says formally.

"What's going on?" Stefan asks, obviously confused about why Caroline texted him to come to Bonnie's.

"Bonnie has to tell us something," Caroline says, eyeing Bonnie. Caroline sits down on the couch and Bonnie walks closer to the duo. Stefan raises his eyebrows, looking stressed.

"It's a long story, but Damon has a doppelganger, and we took him home instead of the actual Damon," Bonnie whispers out. She immediately sees faces filled with confusion.

"Haha, very funny Bonnie." Caroline laughs out awkwardly. Bonnie gives her a glare.

"I'm saying the truth guys." Bonnie persuades.

"That's crazy. We would've noticed if it wasn't Damon. I mean like, he's Damon." Caroline jokes out.

"Guys listen to me-" Bonnie starts but gets cut off by the walking dead.

"Bonnie's right. Oh, my god, it's not Damon. Think about it, they wouldn't have given up Damon that easily, and he hasn't been acting like himself lately. I thought something was wrong or it was just PTSD, but it all makes sense now." Stefan says. He gives everyone a worried glance and his face turns 10 shades darker. Caroline immediately stops smiling, and stares brutally into Stefan's eyes, boring her soul out.

"Exactly," Bonnie mutters out. The water sounds in the background were now almost muted to the trio.

"So does that mean that you got… kidnapped by… his doppelganger?" Caroline says, pausing in between words. She couldn't believe what she was saying. Bonnie gives Caroline a silent but deadly nod. Everything made sense now.

"I'm going to kill that bastard," Stefan growls out, walking towards the door.

"NO! Don't! He's going to kill Damon, please don't." Bonnie cries out, tugging on Stefan's arm. She doesn't know why she is, Stefan is 100x stronger than her, but it was an effort. Stefan turns around, facing Bonnie.

"What do you mean?" Stefan spits out, hatred poisoning every word he says.

"It's- it's… He threatened to kill Damon if I told anyone. And well… He has spies crawling all over Mystic Falls." Bonnie admits. She musters up her strength to tell them what happened at the cell.

"Oh my god, Bonnie. I'm so sorry, I had no idea." Caroline cries out. She runs to a sobbing Bonnie and starts hugging her. Stefan looks at them hugging and immediately starts to think of the many times where Damon would hug him. The blood in his veins stirs, making him stare in fury. He glances one last sorrow look at Bonnie, before walking to the door. He unlocks the door and places his hand on the brass doorknob. The cold metal soothes his burning hand. Coldness spreads through him like a forest fire. He pauses before turning the knob.

"I'm sorry Bonnie. But I have to get Damon back if it's the last thing I do." He turns the round circular object and dashes out the door.

* * *

Memories of him come flushing back. Like a whirlpool, it spins around his head. The memories jab at the side of his head. The emotions hurtle towards him at full speed. Little bullets rip through his head. He squirms around, tears welling up in his eyes. The memories spin around in his brain, trying to find their rightful place in his head. He feels a little jab on his neck. Something was penetrating his skin, something sharp and painful. He can feel some sort of liquid come out of something and going directly into his body. It stings on the area for a second before another jab comes at him. It was on his leg. His left leg stings a lot more. The pain comes out as moans from Damon. He can feel himself shaking. His eyes are still closed, but he can sense what it was that stung him. Sera.

A burning sensation overcomes him. His limbs are tired and they're throbbing. He's too scared to look down and see the bites. He can't. It's too painful to move. For the first time, Damon Salvatore is scared.

 _I should be immune to werewolf venom by now._

He twitches his eyes, trying his hardest to open it. He manages to open it and sees Sera talking to Vaughn.

"S-S-Sera!" Damon yells out. The black hair woman continues to talk to Vaughn.

"Ssss Sera… Why are y-you t-t-talking to him?" Damon cries out. She turns around with her eyes glowing. It's illuminating the dark night, a shade of yellow shining like a star in the sky. Damon feels blinded by her eyes. It wasn't that her eyes were that bright that it would blind him, it was the fact that Damon was now sensitive to light, for what reason, he doesn't know.

His eyes get cloudy with bright lights popping in and out. He can see a shadowed figure glowing in the dark night getting closer to him. He slumps back down onto the tree as the shadow slowly injects some contents into his body. He can feel himself getting weaker, as the pulses on his leg and neck dim down. His whole leg feels swollen, while he can barely swallow. His heart beats faster, as he feels like a helpless person trapped inside someone's body.

His peripheral vision closes in on him, as his heart slows down. He can't move anything, but he's instead forced to listen to the dreaded conversation.

"Good job Seraphina."

"Thanks, boss. Do I get to see my family now?"

"Your job is not done yet. I will tell you your last task before you can go and see your family."

"This was not the agreement."

"My way or the highway. You can see your family, or you can see pieces of your family."

"Tell me what the task is."

"What's the fun in that?"

"What?"

"It's no fun when someone is telling you to do something."

"I'm not following…"

"I want you to do something to Damon, just make it brutal. We wouldn't want him to leave this place fully intact. I want a broken and damaged Damon."

"I will do that, consider it done. But afterward, will you let me be with my family?"

"Results will determine, Seraphina. Do a bad job, and I'll kill them right in front of you. Do a good job, I'll let you be with them for a month."

Damon can feel his hearing faltering. His eyes are still closed, but his brain muddled with thoughts. Just when he thought Sera was his friend. She just had to go and backstab him. Disbelief drizzles in the air, but in Damon's mind, it wasn't drizzling. His mind was conquering up a whole storm- a tsunami if you will.

* * *

 **I'm going to write chapter 18 right now. I'll try and finish it by Monday! Thank you so much. You guys are the best.  
-Angela**


	18. Chapter 18

**A/N- I'm actually really disappointed at myself. I've been so busy, and I can't just come up with excuses. This chapter for some reason took a week long. My life has been so busy! I'm doing my best, but at this point, I can't guarantee you guys if I can post every week. I will try to write when I have time, but I doubt I'll have a lot. I'm really sorry.  
Thank you to **

**Chapter 18- The Box**

The black box arrives at her doorstep. The red ribbon tying the box together holds a note.

 _To Bonnie_

 _From Yours Truly_

It sits on top of her welcome mat. The doorman rings the doorbell after setting it down. He runs back to his truck and drives off. The perplexed woman goes to the door and opens it, immediately seeing the eerie box placed neatly on her door front. She grabs the box- gently and slowly- off the mat and places it on her kitchen counter.

She opens the box up, immediately noticing a foul odor coming out of it. She quickly shoves the lid down and squeezes her nose. Mustering up her strength, she pries the lid off, revealing a bunch of tissue papers. She smiles a little at how much effort this person was spending on the gift. She takes out the crunchy and colorful tissue paper and places it on her counter.

As she looks back into the box, ready to take more tissue paper out, she screams. Inside was a pool of blood with a heart placed directly in the middle. She screams out loud, her scream almost breaking glass. She stands there screaming, still looking into the box. Her heart stops beating for a bit as she looks at the gore in front of her. Her hands tremble and she drops the box onto the floor. The noise of the box dropping onto the floor was almost muted from her loud screaming.

Tears fill her eyes as she grabs her cell phone from the table in her living room. She shakily dials a number and cries. She's been crying a lot for this past couple of weeks. If people saw her, they would think it was a daily routine- to cry. She couldn't help it, though. It wasn't her fault that all of this was happening. The room around her seems to blur, the colors merging in together.

"Hello?"

"I got a box. And- and…" She pauses, gathering her thoughts and trying to calm herself down.

"What's wrong?"

"I-I-I" She sputters out, her voice tripping.

"What happened? Why are you crying?"

"Oh my god." She says, continuing her sob. She was too scared to say anything, too afraid of what was going on.

"You're okay, I'm coming over."

"Please, Caroline."

She hangs up the phone, her brown curls framing her face perfectly.

* * *

She sits on the couch, staring at the blood slowly trickling out of the box. It starts to form a pool around the box. Her green are foggy and her body feels limp. A knock at the door brings her out of her haze.

"Bonnie, it's Caroline! Open the door please!" Caroline yells from outside. Bonnie glances at the door and brings her focus back on the blood spilling onto the wooden floor.

"I'm going to come in, okay?" Caroline asks, not expecting an answer. The door busts open and her eyes graze the room. She sees Bonnie and traces her eyes to a box on the floor. Her blue eyes land on the blood. She cautiously walks towards it, peeping inside. She jumps back, screaming.

"Oh, my god. Is this… Is it…"Caroline breathes out.

"It's Damon's," Bonnie whispers out, her eyes filling with tears. She closes her eyes and lets the tears escape.

* * *

The red car zooms down the road. The 1963 Porsche car stops at the driveway. His dead heart beats all the way up to the front door. He shakily holds up his hand and turns the knob. He swings the door wide open and he sees Bonnie crying with Caroline hugging her. Caroline gives him a look. She sees a distraught and messy Stefan. His hair is all over the place, and his eyes scream, "I haven't slept for 24 hours". Stefan walks towards them, stopping to see an eerie box lying on the floor surrounded by a ruby colored liquid. He picks up the box, some blood still trickling out of the side.

"Is it… him?" Bonnie whispers out. Her crying muffles her voice. Stefan looks at Bonnie and then Caroline. He closes his eyes and lifts the box. The blood scent wafts into his nose. He looks up at Bonnie and Caroline. Everyone knew what the answer was.

"Oh, my god. I did this! It was my fault. I told you guys and… and… it's all my fault." Bonnie cries out. She looks at everyone in the room, her eyes puffy and her tears leaving a trail of salt.

"I'm so sorry," Bonnie says, staring straight into Stefan's eyes.

"I need to go," Stefan says, his voice wavering in the air. He leaves and slams the door behind him.

"I killed him." Bonnie screams, stuffing her face back into the sofa. It was the last thing Stefan heard before driving away. Caroline coaxes Bonnie.

* * *

If it happened 3 years ago, she couldn't care less about Damon. Somehow, someway, Damon managed to get attached to everyone. It was different without his presence. The air was thicker and more stale- while on the other hand- if Damon was there, the air would be as light as a marshmallow. He managed to grow on them, and it pains to see that he wouldn't be apart of their lives anymore. An eternity without Damon to some people would sound like music to their ears. Damon died a long and painful death- something someone should never have to go through.

Stefan presses on the gas pedal as he zips past the other cars. Driving well above the speed limit, he makes a left turn. He takes out his phone from his front pocket and stares at the screen. Knowing that Caroline was going to call soon, he texts her first. He multitasks, using his right hand to text and his left to drive.

"I'm sorry. I can't deal with all of this right now." Stefan texts. He focuses back on the road, but a vibration made him stare back at the screen.

"It's a hard time for all of us- not just you. He's your brother, but he was our friend too." Caroline texts back.

"I need some time." Stefan texts. He looks back up and sees the red light. He slams his foot on the brakes, smoke coming from behind his tires.

SCREECH.

A car from the left crashes right into him, his car exploding like fireworks.

BOOM.

He feels himself flipping upside down in the air.

Stefan tries to look around, but all he could see was darkness.

He stirs around, trying to make sense of what just happened.

He can feel lukewarm liquid running down his face and a million glass shards jammed into him.

He pries his lids open and sees fire engulfing his car.

Gathering up his strength, he unbuckles his seatbelt and unlocks his car. He looks back at the car that hit him.

A woman and a little girl in the back were inside the wrecked car.

His instinct speaks up, telling him to go save them, to go save the mother and daughter, or at the very least to save the little girl.

He turns back around and starts to run. He runs away from the crash- away from everything.

* * *

 **Thanks for reading! Please review and favorite and like this story to get updates! I love you guys so much! I actually can't wait for October 21, I can't be the only one excited right?!  
** **-Angela**


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